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A  DECADE  of  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 


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A  DECADE  of  CIVIC 
DEVELOPMENT 


By 

CHARLES    ZUEBLIN 

PROFESSOR   OF  SOCIOLOGY   IN  THE   UNIVERSITY   OF  CHICAGO 
AUTHOR  OF  "AMERICAN    MUNICIPAL  PROGRESS" 


CHICAGO 

THE   UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO   PRESS 

1905 


Copyright  1905 
By  The  University  of  Chicago 


z&^d 


FOREWORD 

"  The  Civic  Renascence  "  was  the  title  given 
to  the  following  chapters  when  they  appeared 
in  The  Chautauquau,1  to  whose  publishers  obli- 
gations are  due  for  the  kind  permission  to 
revise  and  reprint.  The  periods  of  rebellion, 
reconstruction,  industrial  expansion,  and  im- 
perialism will  be  no  more  conspicuous  in  the 
orientation  of  the  end  of  the  century  than  the 
civic  awakening  which  is  now  too  near  in  time 
and  has  been  too  spontaneous  in  character  for 
proper  appreciation.  It  is  too  early  to  measure 
the  full  meaning  of  the  new  civic  spirit  and  its 
accomplishments,  but  to  sum  up  a  few  of  the 
^spectacular    evidences    of   civic   progress    may 


r  serve  to  interpret  a  movement  already  as  broad 
is  the  continent. 
While  we  have  long  been  disheartened  by 
municipal    mismanagement    and   civic    apathy, 
7".    we  must  be  stirred  and  inspired  by  the  fact, 
already  demonstrated  beyond  dispute,  that  the 
Lk  civic  progress  of  the  last  decade  is  greater  than 
i—  that  of  all  our  previous  national  existence.     So 
c3  rapid  has  been  the  development  since  the  days 
of   the    Columbian    Exposition    of    1893   that 

'September,  1902  — May,  1903. 


327138 


vi  FOREWORD 

unrelated  civic  improvements,  however  impera- 
tive and  worthy,  no  longer  satisfy  enlightened 
citizens.  The  goal  has  come  to  be  the  compre- 
hensive city  plan,  the  ripest  expression  of  the 
new  civic  spirit,  which  it  is  the  purpose  of  these 
chapters  to  describe.  This  very  day  marks  the 
public  opening  in  San  Francisco  for  exhibition 
of  the  improvement  plan  of  the  Pacific  metropo- 
lis, which  is  second  only  in  importance  to  the 
scheme  of  the  Washington  Commission.  The 
Society  for  the  Improvement  and  Adornment 
of  San  Francisco,  under  the  leadership  of  Ex- 
Mayor  Phelan  and  with  the  co-operation  of 
Mr.  D.  H.  Burnham  and  his  associates,  has 
produced  a  plan  for  the  comprehensive  treat- 
ment of  the  city  which  is  the  herald  of  the 
next  decade  of  civic  development. 

Charles  Zueblin. 

Berkeley,  Cal., 
September  27,  1905. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.    The  New   Civic  Spirit     .      .  i 

II.    The  Training  of  the  Citizen  13 

III.  The  Making  of  the  City     .  33 

IV.  "The  White  City"  and  After  59 
V.    Metropolitan  Boston       .      .  83 

VI.    Greater  New  York     .      .      .  103 

VII.    The  Harrisburg  Plan       .      .  127 

VIII.   Washington,  Old  and  New     .  145 

IX.    The  Return  to  Nature  .      .  167 


THE  NEW  CIVIC  SPIRIT 

The  characteristics  of  different  generations 
change  as  unnoticeably  as  the  generations 
themselves.  Ideals  transforming  the  spirit  of 
a  nation  may  come  as  angels  unawares  or  as 
thieves  in  the  night.  In  the  perspective  of 
years  we  recognize  that  ideals  widely  divergent 
actuated  the  generation  preceding  and  the 
generation  following  the  Civil  War,  but  we  do 
not  so  readily  see  that  a  transformation  of 
thought  and  activities,  equally  significant, 
although  less  spectacular,  has  taken  place  since 
the  close  of  the  war.  The  industrial  expansion 
of  the  decade  which  followed  the  Civil  War  has 
had  no  parallel  except  in  the  decade  just  clos- 
ing, each  being  characterized  by  progress  and 
the  creative  spirit  rather  than  by  order  and 
construction;  nevertheless  the  social  and  civic 
differences  are  as  marked  as  the  industrial  simi- 
larity. It  may  not  be  without  profit,  therefore, 
to  contrast  the  intellectual  and  social  attitudes 
of  the  period  defined  by  the  panic  of  1873  and 
the  period  succeeding  the  panic  of  1894. 

The  dominant  characteristics  of  the  ideals 
of  the  seventies  may  be  described  as  theological 
and  individualistic,  of  the  end  of  the  century 


2        A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

as  ethical  and  social.  In  the  earlier  period  reli- 
ance was  put  upon  individual  effort  which  was 
assumed  to  be  providentially  guided  to  success 
if  impelled  by  a  holy  zeal ;  while  in  the  latter 
time,  with  its  new  conception  of  responsibility, 
individual  effort  is  sanctioned  because  it  pro- 
motes social  welfare.  The  former  was  a  time 
when  the  only  social  or  altruistic  forces  were 
supposed  to  emanate  from  the  church  and  the 
church  schools.  The  young  man  or  woman 
with  the  impulse  to  serve  his  fellow-man  had 
no  choice,  therefore,  outside  the  church,  the 
school,  or  charity.  In  this  latter  day  the 
workers  and  reformers  are  found  in  political 
and  social  endeavor  made  possible  by  the  multi- 
farious municipal,  charitable  and  social  organi- 
zations. The  theological  point  of  view  added 
emphasis  to  the  prevailing  faith  of  the  indus- 
trial world,  that  opportunity  was  free,  that 
success  was  dependent  only  on  individual 
effort,  and  that  social  good  was  merely  the 
result  of  the  performance  of  individual  obliga- 
tions. The  results  of  this  philosophy  were  that 
the  industrial  world  knew  no  social  obligation, 
the  church  knew  only  condescension  and 
patronage,  the  school  was  in  the  throes  of 
reorganization,  and  politics  bore  a  stigma. 

In  the  last  decade  of  the  century  there  came 
a  new  conception  of  public  responsibility  and 


THE  NEW  CIVIC  SPIRIT  3 

activity.  The  characteristic  note  of  the  new 
era  is  social.  The  public-school  system  began 
to  accommodate  itself  to  the  conditions  of 
industry  and  life,  abandoning  the  all-sufficient 
pedagogy  of  the  "  three  R's  "  and  teaching  the 
power  of  observation,  accomplishment  and  self- 
reliance.  The  administrative  reform  of  cities 
was  promoted  with  a  success  which  would  have 
seemed  incredible  in  the  ninth  decade  of  the 
century.  Villages  and  towns  undertook  the 
organization  of  improvement  associations.  The 
last  decade  of  the  century  also  witnessed  an 
astounding  development  of  free  libraries, 
health  regulations,  factory  legislation,  inter- 
state commerce  provisions  and  the  extension  of 
municipal  functions  such  as  street  paving  and 
cleaning  and  lighting,  water  supply  and  sewage 
disposal,  parks  and  boulevards,  all  expressing 
a  changed  conception  of  public  life. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  these  earlier 
years  some  of  the  most  important  public  move- 
ments of  the  close  of  the  century  had  their  in- 
ception, but  died  a-borning.  In  1866  the  first 
steps  were  taken  to  provide  public  baths  in 
Boston,  possibly  as  the  result  of  the  revela- 
tions of  the  war  in  matters  of  sanitation.  The 
next  public  bath  was  established  in  Milwaukee 
in  1889.  In  1872  a  children's  playground  was 
instituted  by  vote  of  town  meeting  at  Brook- 


4        A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

line,  Massachusetts.  The  next  playground  of 
moment  was  the  Charlesbank,  in  Boston, 
opened  to  the  public  in  1892.  In  1872  the 
school  authorities  of  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts, proposed  the  establishment  of  a  vacation 
school.  It  was  not  until  1886,  however,  that 
the  first  vacation  school  was  established,  and 
that  in  Newark,  New  Jersey.  The  first  village 
improvement  society  was  organized  in  Stock- 
bridge,  Massachusetts,  in  1853,  but  the  great 
civic  awakening  dates  from  the  year  of  the 
Chicago  World's  Fair.  The  country  was  not 
ready  for  these  progressive  movements,  for 
the  feeling  of  social  obligation  was  unde- 
veloped. 

In  the  midst  of  great  intellectual,  social 
and  spiritual  advances  it  is  sometimes  difficult 
to  do  justice  to  the  importance  of  the  material 
basis  of  progress.  The  cry  so  often  raised 
against  the  materialism  of  our  time  has  a  rela- 
tive but  not  an  absolute  justification.  The 
materialism  is  great  in  proportion  to  the  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  possibilities,  but  it  is  no 
more  serious  in  its  menace  than  was  the 
materialism  of  past  times.  In  fact  the  great 
creative  periods  of  industrial  development  are 
accompanied  by  social  and  intellectual  revivals. 
Progress  in  the  industrial,  social  or  intellectual 
world  is  the  result  of  a  reaction  from  an  estab- 


THE  NEW  CIVIC  SPIRIT  5 

lished  order.  The  comfort  of  prosperity  in- 
duces complacency,  conservatism,  aristocracy, 
a  deadening  optimism.  In  each  succeeding 
period  the  democratic  spirit  is  compelled  to 
fight  the  benumbing  influence  of  the  new 
riches,  but  meanwhile  it  has  been  aided  by  the 
stimulating  influence  of  prosperity  with  its 
accumulation  of  new  wants  and  ambitions. 

The  decade  after  the  war  was  a  time  in 
which  all  efforts  were  devoted  to  establishing 
order  out  of  the  chaos  of  industrial  depression. 
But  the  ensuing  period  of  prosperity  was  the 
result  of  an  industrial  expansion  made  possible 
by  increasing  density  of  population  and  the 
consequent  greater  power  of  co-operation.  In 
spite  of  the  disturbances  in  the  industrial  world 
and  the  demoralization  of  government  due  to 
numerous  accessions  from  the  unskilled  and 
undisciplined  forces  of  Europe,  which  threat- 
ened both  the  standard  of  living  and  democratic 
administration,  the  greater  co-operative  power 
of  the  large  urban  community  has  been  respon- 
sible for  notable  advances  in  popular  education, 
industrial  organization,  municipal  reform  and 
civic  improvement. 

The  logical  steps  in  civic  progress  are 
prosperity,  leisure,  culture.  Prosperity  pro- 
vides the  leisure  which  makes  possible  a  cul- 
ture   unknown   to   the   pioneers    in    industrial 


6        A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

expansion.  If  in  time  this  culture  become 
pedantic  and  exclusive,  at  least  the  enthusiasm 
of  its  new  possession  usually  prompts  a  desire 
for  service.  The  growing  prosperity,  leisure 
and  culture  of  the  eighties  provided  not  only 
the  sowers  but  the  soil  for  the  new  seed  of 
social  service.  In  the  perspective  of  a  decade 
it  may  seem  strange  that  civic  obligations 
rested  so  lightly  on  the  shoulders  of  the  people 
who  were  enjoying  the  enlarged  opportunities 
of  those  days.  We  must,  however,  remember 
that  the  conception  of  social  responsibility  held 
so  widely  today  is  in  direct  variance  with  the 
experience  and  thought  of  the  nineteenth 
century. 

The  conscious  effort  of  the  convinced  re- 
former is,  of  course,  not  primarily  responsible 
for  great  civic  changes.  He  draws  his  power 
from  the  undercurrent  of  the  popular  move- 
ments of  his  time.  American  society  was  being 
slowly  educated,  apart  from  the  objective  con- 
sequences of  industrial  development,  by  the 
high-sounding  declarations  of  the  Knights  of 
Labor,  by  the  stirring  and  unmeasured  phrases 
of  Henry  George's  Progress  and  Poverty; 
by  the  threatening  protests  of  discontent  which 
culminated  in  the  Haymarket  riot  in  Chicago, 
and  the  dreams  of  a  happier  state  which  found 
their   most   dramatic   expression   in   Bellamy's 


THE  NEW  CIVIC  SPIRIT  7 

Looking  Backzvard.  Those  were  also  days 
of  calm  examination  and  analysis  by  such  a 
friendly  and  helpful  critic  as  James  Bryce  in 
his  American  Commonwealth.  Add  to  the 
native  intellectual  and  spiritual  forces  the  grow- 
ing consciousness  of  an  interrelation  of  the 
nations,  especially  a  community  of  interest 
among  English-speaking  countries,  and  we 
find  the  cause  for  the  adoption  of  English  social 
movements  in  the  absence  of  any  fitting  native 
efforts. 

We  are  not  surprised  that  the  young  Ameri- 
can of  the  last  generation,  unfamiliar  with  the 
duties  of  citizenship  and  social  service,  should 
have  turned  to  the  movements  becoming  popu- 
lar in  Great  Britain  as  the  means  of  expressing 
that  human  interest  for  which  church,  school 
and  politics  seemed  to  offer  inadequate  chan- 
nels. Then,  happily  at  a  time  when  on  the 
one  hand  prosperity,  leisure  and  culture  gave 
encouragement  to  altruistic  effort,  and  on  the 
other  democratic  and  even  revolutionary  move- 
ments demanded  attention,  the  zealous  youth 
of  America  discovered  the  merits  of  charity 
organization,  university  settlements,  and  uni- 
versity extension. 

These  significant  social  movements  oppor- 
tunely appropriated  by  the  younger  American 
generation  had  stood  the  test  of  several  years' 


8        A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

service  in  England.     The  university  extension 
work  undertaken  in  Cambridge  University  in 
1865    had    received    new    impetus    and    com- 
manded international  attention  in  1885  when 
it  was  popularized  by  the  new  methods  and 
increased  vigor  of  Oxford  University.     The 
first  university  settlement,  Toynbee  Hall,  was 
organized  in  1884,  after  the  untimely  death  of 
Arnold   Toynbee,   the    friend   and   teacher   of 
workingmen.     Already  a  number  of  progress- 
ive men  and  women  were  applying  in  Ameri- 
can cities  the  methods  of  charity  organization 
approved  by  some  years'  experience  in  Eng- 
land.     University    extension    and    university 
settlements  afforded  a  still  better  outlet  for  the 
higher    and    more    democratic    expression    of 
fraternity,  and  in  1887  and  the  next  succeed- 
ing years  were  given  spontaneous  recognition 
in    the    establishment    in    New    York    of    the 
Neighborhood  Guild  by  Stanton  Coit;  in  Chi- 
cago,  of   Hull   House  by  Jane   Addams   and 
Ellen  Gates  Starr;  and  in  the  inauguration  of 
university  extension  with  experimental  lectures 
by  Professor  E.  W.  Bemis  and  others,  and  in 
the  organization  of  the  American  Society  for 
the    Extension    of    University    Teaching,    in 
Philadelphia. 

The  number  and  accessibility  of  institutions 
for  higher  education  in  America  made  the  need 


THE  NEW  CIVIC  SPIRIT  9 

for  university  extension  among  the  well-to-do 
less  conspicuous  than  in  Great  Britain.  Its 
earliest  promoters  in  this  country,  therefore, 
were  full  of  hope  that  the  opportunity  had 
arrived  for  men  of  "light  and  leading"  to 
minister  to  the  intellectual  needs  of  the  indus- 
trial classes.  The  democratic  character  thus 
given  to  the  movement  was  short-lived  in 
appearance,  however,  because  of  the  only  too 
natural  unresponsiveness  of  the  manual  work- 
ers to  a  movement  emanating  from  the  hitherto 
remote  and  unknown  universities.  Recent 
developments  lead  to  the  belief  that  the  most 
popular  and  permanent  democratic  expres- 
sion of  university  extension  will  come  later 
through  the  extension  of  the  public-school 
system.  Meanwhile,  the  movement  has  made 
a  place  for  itself  in  American  life,  so  far  as  the 
institutions  and  funds  have  been  found  to  carry 
it  on,  because  people  of  some  means  and  culti- 
vation welcome  the  results  of  scientific  investi- 
gation coming  in  the  easily  appropriated  form 
of  university  extension,  with  the  added  inspira- 
tion of  the  presence  of  the  teacher.  It  must 
not  be  overlooked,  moreover,  that  those  com- 
munities where  the  audiences  are  made  up  of 
representative  people,  do  not  of  necessity  belie 
the  democratic  character  or,  at  least,  possi- 
bilities of  the  university  extension  movement. 


io      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

The  university  or  social  settlement,  in  its 
most  modest  activities,  is  an  expression  of 
neighborhood  or  community  interest,  and  as 
such  has  served  to  bridge  that  gap  referred  to 
by  Jacob  Riis  in  Hozv  the  Other  Half  Lives. 
In  the  larger  civic  life  of  the  community  also, 
the  growing  spirit  of  fraternity  has  enabled  it 
to  take  a  most  conspicuous  part  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  higher  civic  life.  Some  of  the 
settlements,  notably  Hull  House  in  Chicago, 
may  be  called  civic  centers,  even  of  the  metro- 
politan communities  in  which  they  are  located, 
chiefly  perhaps  because  the  new  civic  spirit 
finds  its  ripest  expression  in  them,  and  from 
them  permeates  not  a  few  of  the  conventional 
and  fashion-ridden  quarters  of  the  city.  Thus 
the  social  settlement  has  found  its  place  not 
only  in  the  poorer  wards  of  the  cities  in  which 
it  is  located,  but  in  the  larger  civic  life  of  the 
community. 

When  we  consider  that  the  many  social 
movements,  noted  at  the  beginning  of  this 
chapter,  took  life  or  new  life  at  the  close  of  the 
ninth  and  the  beginning  of  the  tenth  decade 
of  the  last  century,  it  is  evident  that  these 
imported  English  movements  were  the  first 
fruits  of  a  desire  to  be  of  greater  social  utility 
than  the  older  native  forces  seemed  to  permit. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  many  of  the  subse- 


THE  NEW  CIVIC  SPIRIT  n 

quent  activities  such  as  playgrounds,  vacation 
schools,  public  baths,  compulsory  education 
and  factory  and  health  legislation  should  have 
emanated  from  the  settlements  or  should  have 
been  inspired  by  university  extension  teaching. 
While  the  social  settlements  and  university  ex- 
tension were  adopted  partly  because  they  were 
being  successfully  tried  in  England,  and  partly 
because  thoughtful  and  public-spirited  young 
Americans  saw  the  need  of  them  at  home,  their 
success  was  largely  due  to  their  timeliness. 

A  new  social  spirit  is  expressed  and  defined 
by  these  movements.  Participation  in  the  life 
of  the  masses  of  the  people,  rather  than  vain- 
glorious attainment  of  the  evanescent  honors 
of  conventional  society,  becomes  the  ambition 
of  a  portion  of  the  new  generation.  To  the 
multitude  are  carried  some  of  the  fruits  of 
prosperity,  leisure  and  culture;  from  them  are 
gained  democracy,  fraternity,  freedom  of  so- 
cial expression ;  with  them  is  developed  a  new 
dynamic  force  capable  of  remaking  the  Ameri- 
can community  by  inspiring  the  American  citi- 
zen with  the  new  civic  spirit. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN 

The  industrial  and  social  needs  of  each 
generation  should  determine  the  character  of 
its  educational  opportunities.  We  began  our 
national  existence  with  a  belief  in  democracy 
—  not  merely  the  political  ideal  popularized  by 
Lincoln,  "government  of  the  people,  by  the 
people,  and  for  the  people" — but  a  democracy 
which  meant  more  than  government,  which 
was  expressed  in  the  high-sounding  phrase 
"Liberty,  Equality  and  Fraternity."  At  the 
dawn  of  the  twentieth  century  there  seems  to  be 
a  relaxation  of  democratic  enthusiasm,  due  per- 
haps, to  a  recognition  that  the  French  philoso- 
phers and  the  American  patriots  had  been  too 
sweeping  in  their  democratic  demands  and 
aspirations.  Yet  the  obligation  is  upon  us  to 
prepare  our  future  citizens  for  life  in  a  democ- 
racy, and  the  demand  is  therefore  urgent  to 
define  democracy  in  realizable  terms.  The 
progress  of  education  has  given  us  a  threefold 
educational  ideal :  education  for  occupation,  for 
citizenship  and  for  manhood.  May  we  not 
unite  this  ideal  with  the  democratic  trinity,  and 
demand  as  a  rational  goal,  liberty  for  the 
worker,  equality  for  the  citizen  and  fraternity 
13 


i4      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

for  man  ?  We  find,  indeed,  that  industrial  and 
educational  progress  is  paving  the  way  for  the 
realization  of  this  limited  democratic  concep- 
tion, which  may,  however,  prove  to  be  a  fuller 
democracy  than  the  previous  unattainable  ideal. 
The  nineteenth  century  has  given  us  indus- 
trial, political  and  moral  conditions  which 
facilitate  the  realization  of  this  qualified  democ- 
racy. The  economic  changes  have  been  ex- 
pressed in  an  industrial  and  a  domestic  revolu- 
tion. The  industrial  revolution  has  substituted 
machinery  for  handwork,  has  introduced  the 
division  of  labor,  has  provided  a  place  for 
women  and  children,  as  well  as  men,  in  the 
huge  factories  which  supplant  the  old-fashioned 
workshop,  while  the  principles  of  organization, 
bringing  masses  of  people  together  for  eco- 
nomic advantage,  have  led  to  the  growth  of  the 
modern  city.  This  would  necessitate  changed 
methods  of  education  were  the  influence  of  the 
domestic  revolution  absent,  but  the  latter  has 
been  equally  significant  in  altering  the  educa- 
tional opportunities  outside  the  school.  The 
labor-saving  devices  used  in  the  household,  the 
satisfaction  of  many  wants  through  communal 
effort,  and  the  general  diffusion  among  urban 
populations  of  the  news  of  the  world,  giving 
thus  a  superficial  literary  training  —  all  con- 
duce to  the  sending  of  the  boy  to  school  with- 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  15 

out  that  training  of  hand  and  eye  which  would 
have  been  secured  under  the  primitive  domestic 
conditions.  When  this  is  coupled  with  the 
necessity  of  fitting  children  for  modern  indus- 
trial conditions,  we  find  that  the  old-fashioned 
education  of  the  "three  R's"  is  entirely  inade- 
quate. The  new  education,  like  the  new  indus- 
try, must  make  for  a  larger  liberty. 

The  last  century's  progress  in  representa- 
tive government  has  also  made  new  demands 
upon  the  educational  system.  While  we  have 
not  witnessed  such  marked  advances  in 
America  as  have  been  seen  in  Europe,  because 
we  began  the  century  with  a  more  representa- 
tive system,  we  have  nevertheless  been  trying 
to  interpret  the  documents  of  our  forefathers, 
and  endeavoring  to  adapt  our  political  institu- 
tions to  the  industrial  changes.  We  have, 
therefore,  gained  new  conceptions  of  political 
responsibility  for  which  the  old-time  school 
made  no  provision,  but  which  give  to  the 
school  of  today  the  opportunity  for  a  fuller 
expression  of  equality.  A  no  less  significant 
result  of  the  march  of  events  in  the  nineteenth 
century  is  the  development  of  humanitarianism, 
which  has  received  notable  reverses  in  recent 
wars  and  other  barbaric  activities,  but  never- 
theless encourages  the  belief  that  the  fraternal 


16      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

spirit  is  influencing  men,  and  may  become  a 
greater  inspiration  in  the  school  of  tomorrow. 
We  may  ask  ourselves,  then,  how  may  the 
results  of  the  nineteenth  century's  industrial, 
political  and  social  advances  be  utilized  in  the 
school  for  the  extension  of  the  worker's  liberty. 
During  the  nineteenth  century  the  greatest  con- 
tribution to  education  came  from  science. 
Theoretical  and  applied  science  contributed  to 
man's  welfare  and  penetrated  even  into  the 
recesses  of  the  academic  curriculum,  while  in 
the  scientific  schools  education  is  paying  its 
debt  to  industry.  Nineteenth-century  science 
is  the  direct  result  of  the  industrial  revolution 
and  the  greater  emphasis  laid  on  the  relation  of 
man  to  natural  advantages.  Not  only  was 
man's  dependence  on  the  earth  evidenced  in  the 
use  of  raw  materials,  but  in  the  application  of 
machinery  for  purposes  of  industrial  progress 
the  same  laws  were  exhibited  which  attracted 
the  attention  of  the  evolutionists  in  the  bio- 
logical world.  Charles  Darwin  is  not  merely 
the  product  of  an  age  which  was  devoted  to 
scientific  research ;  he  is  chiefly  the  child  of  an 
industrial  era  in  which  the  survival  of  the 
fittest  and  the  doctrine  of  natural  selection 
were  daily  demonstrated.  Industry  thus  con- 
tributed to  education  its  most  important  doc- 
trine, that  of  evolution  or  development,  and 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  17 

education  reciprocates  by  giving  the  youth  not 
only  general  intellectual  training,  but  special 
technical  skill. 

One  result  of  the  exaltation  of  industry  was 
the  appreciation  of  the  value  of  manual  train- 
ing, not  only  for  industrial  but  for  educational 
purposes.  If  the  training  of  the  hand  and  eye 
is  essential  to  economic  fitness,  it  must  involve 
a  better  development  of  all  the  faculties  and 
hence  have  pure  pedagogic  merit.  When  we 
comprehend  the  value  of  the  discipline  which 
comes  from  the  mechanic  arts,  then  we  begin 
to  see  that,  as  it  is  an  aid  to  culture,  so  it  may 
contribute  to  that  chief  necessity  of  the  worker 
of  today  —  the  power  of  adaptability.  The 
manual  worker  of  the  twentieth  century  enjoys 
a  heritage  from  the  past  in  the  form  of  liberty 
to  search  for  work,  but  liberty  in  his  occupa- 
tion is  almost  unknown.  The  elaborate  organi- 
zation of  modern  industry  and  the  high  sub- 
division of  labor  make  the  individual  worker 
insignificant,  while  the  changes  are  so  rapid 
that  even  the  most  skilled  may  suffer  without 
a  general  education  which  permits  them  to 
accommodate  themselves  to  industrial  changes. 
The  man  of  executive  capacity  passes  with  ease 
from  one  occupation  to  another,  but  the  manual 
worker  in  perfecting  his  knowledge  of  a  trade 
often  pays  the  penalty  of  losing  his  job  —  be- 


18      A  DECADE  OE  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

cause  the  introduction  of  some  mechanical 
device  may  supplant  his  special  skill.  He 
needs,  therefore,  in  self-defense,  above  all  else 
the  capacity  for  adapting  himself  to  new  indus- 
trial situations. 

When  manual  training  is  given  in  the 
grades,  from  the  kindergarten  on,  the  student 
is  ready,  upon  entering  the  high  school,  for  a 
technological  course.  The  technical  schools  of 
today  are  very  often  neglecting  the  poorer 
youth  for  whom  they  were  designed,  and  be- 
coming training  schools  for  professional 
workers.  The  technical  high  school  of  the 
future  may  still  perform  its  service  for  the 
children  of  manual  workers,  if  manual  training 
has  been  an  organic  part  of  the  educational 
system  from  the  beginning;  and  thus  the 
workman  of  tomorrow  may  have  not  only  the 
general  training  which  makes  him  adaptable, 
but  the  special  training  which  gives  him  imme- 
diate economic  advantage. 

Out  of  the  industrial  evolution  of  today 
there  has  emerged  a  serious  problem,  which 
may  also  be  met  by  this  application  of  educa- 
tion to  the  necessity  of  giving  the  workman 
liberty.  The  irregularity  of  employment  which 
results  from  invention  has  been  intensified  by 
the  further  displacement  of  labor  due  to  the 
economy   of   the   higher   organizations,    com- 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  19 

binations  and  trusts.  This  surplus  labor  can 
with  difficulty  be  employed  in  the  machine  in- 
dustries, but  it  may  find  a  place  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  handicraft  for  the  beautification  of  the 
home  and  the  community,  which  happily  is 
among  the  demands  of  our  recent  culture. 

Thus  it  may  be  expected  that  the  educa- 
tional ideal  of  fitting  the  worker  for  occupa- 
tion may  be  harmonized  with  the  first  element 
of  democracy  —  liberty  —  not  the  absolute  lib- 
erty to  do  as  one  pleases  in  all  affairs  of  life, 
but  liberty  in  life's  chief  essential  —  liberty 
in  occupation. 

The  preparation  of  the  citizen  for  his  spe- 
cial function  of  government  will  be  aided  by 
every  improvement  in  education,  but  is  being 
immediately  assisted  by  some  of  our  newer 
educational  methods.  The  kindergarten  estab- 
lished the  standard  of  true  citizenship  in  giv- 
ing education,  as  Mrs.  Wiggin  puts  it,  to  the 
"  whole  boy."  Citizenship  is  not  to  be  attained 
by  mere  attention  to  the  ballot ;  equality  is  not 
secured  by  gaining  the  franchise;  but  equality 
in  citizenship  may  be  taken  as  a  substitute  for 
that  fuller  equality  of  riper  civilization,  if  citi- 
zenship is  interpreted  in  its  broadest  sense. 
This  kind  of  citizenship  is  enjoyed  by  the  child 
in  the  kindergarten  in  his  common  relations 
with   other   children  —  all    struggling   toward 


20      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

the  goal  of  the  perfection  of  the  fullest  capa- 
cities of  each. 

The  public-school  system  as  a  whole  con- 
duces to   a   social   equality   which   is   scarcely 
known   in   adult  life,   but   some  of  its  newer 
features    make    a    more    direct    contribution 
toward  giving  the  citizen  equality,  special  men- 
tion being  necessary  of  the  vacation   school. 
The  first   proposal   for   vacation   schools   was 
made  in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  in   1872, 
with  a  view  to  occupying  children  in  the  sum- 
mer time,  especially  the  children  of  the  con- 
gested city  quarters.    The  first  vacation  school 
was    established    in    1886    in    Newark,    New 
Jersey,  the  former  suggestion  having  been  pre- 
mature.    From  this  time  on  it  has  extended 
and  multiplied  until  it  is  to  be  found  in  most 
of  the  large  American  cities  of  today,  the  first 
purpose  usually  being  that  of  the  original  pro- 
jectors—  the  employment  of  the  dull  hours  of 
a  long  vacation.     This  would  of  itself  justify 
the  vacation  school.     Indeed  we  may  say  with 
Professor  C.  Hanford  Henderson,  in  Educa- 
tion and  the  Larger  Life,  that  vacations  are 
unnecessary  if  the  school  is  properly  conducted, 
though  as  often  operated  today,  it  might  be 
advantageous  to  increase  the  weekly  holidays 
from  one  to  seven,  and  the  months  of  vacation 
from  two  to  twelve. 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  21 

The  reaction  from  the  confinement  of  the 
old-fashionecl  school  makes  some  employment 
in  the  summer  time  especially  desirable. 
Happily,  the  occupation  provided  is  of  not  only 
a  diverting  but  a  healthful  character.  The 
abandonment  of  textbooks,  the  use  of  manual 
exercises,  the  introduction  of  excursions,  the 
provision  of  visits  to  the  country  and  the  parks 
—  all  give  relaxation  as  well  as  instruction. 
There  is  thus  obtained  not  only  a  useful  sum- 
mer occupation,  but  the  opportunity  for  the 
introduction  of  newer  pedagogic  methods  than 
the  frequently  conservative  school  board  is 
willing  to  sanction  in  the  usually  bureaucratic 
school  system.  There  is  a  third  and  more 
important  reason  for  the  vacation  school.  Its 
chief  significance  is  now  seen  to  lie  in  the  possi- 
bility of  equalizing  opportunity.  The  chil- 
dren of  the  poor  in  all  urban  communities 
suffer  from  the  heat  of  summer  as  the  children 
of  the  well-to-do  certainly  do  not.  The  latter 
have  the  freedom  of  their  gardens  or  the  city 
parks,  the  lake  or  the  sea,  the  mountain  or  the 
forest,  and  come  back  to  school  in  September 
refreshed  and  rejuvenated.  The  child  of  the 
city  street,  on  the  other  hand,  returns  to  school 
wan  and  weak,  if  not  vicious,  as  the  result  of 
the  circumscribed  environment  of  his  summer 
months.     He  is  no  competitor  for  the  child 


22      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

with  superior  advantages.  The  vacation  school 
aims  to  give  him  diversity  of  instruction,  occu- 
pation for  his  hands  and  eyes,  outdoor  activities 
and  excursions  —  and  thus  by  minimizing 
physical  difference  is  opportunity  equalized. 

A  still  more  direct  method  of  encouraging 
equality  in  citizenship  is  found  in  the  systems 
of  self-government  introduced  in  many  schools 
today.  Citizenship  is  learned  from  experience, 
not  from  books.  One  can  be  a  citizen  only  by 
participation,  and  that  not  merely  in  the  annual 
casting  of  the  ballot,  but  in  daily  citizenship. 
The  futility  of  silk-stocking  politics  is  a  con- 
stant reminder  that  mere  intellectual  capacity 
is  no  guarantee  of  good  citizenship.  A  large 
part  of  the  most  intelligent  voters  in  the  city 
of  Chicago  desired  at  one  time  a  very  able  and 
prominent  young  man  as  mayor,  and  wished 
the  opposition  party  to  choose  him  as  candidate 
in  competition  with  the  very  unsatisfactory 
incumbent  of  the  office.  There  was  no  objec- 
tion to  this  promising  young  man  except  that 
he  was  not  acceptable  to  the  ring  which  had  at 
the  time  no  other  candidate.  In  spite  of  the 
united  efforts  of  those  who  are  commonly 
called  the  "best  citizens,"  a  ring  candidate  was 
nominated,  who,  inevitably  as  was  expected, 
met  defeat.  The  routine  performance  of  the 
dictates  of  the  party  boss  is  no  more  successful 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  23 

than  the  study  of  textbooks  on  civics,  for 
imparting  instruction  in  citizenship.  The 
readers  of  Bryce's  American  Commonwealth 
and  Von  Hoist's  Constitutional  History  of  the 
United  States  are  not  only  inexperienced  as  a 
rule  but  commonly  fail  to  grasp  the  fact  that 
participation  in  any  representative  system  is 
the  best  school  of  political  citizenship. 

A  society  in  which  workingmen  have  no 
voice  in  industrial  management,  the  rank  and 
file  frequently  being  without  influence  even  in 
their  own  labor  organizations,  where  the 
majority  of  those  who  furnish  the  capital  for 
industrial  undertakings  do  not  share  in  their 
administration,  where  the  members  of  the 
church  acquiesce  in  clerical  domination  and  the 
children  in  the  school  live  under  the  tyranny 
of  the  teacher,  is  not  likely  to  excel  in  the  man- 
agement of  political  affairs.  Self-government 
in  the  school  is  the  best  avenue  to  citizenship. 
A  system  by  which  the  children  maintain  their 
own  discipline  and  look  after  the  external 
affairs  of  the  school  life  is  the  best  means  as 
yet  devised  for  the  training  of  the  future  citi- 
zen. It  must  be  not  a  mere  duplication  of  the 
forms  of  city  government,  which  may  have  no 
special  application  in  the  schoolroom,  but  an 
organic  treatment  of  the  school  problems,  such 
as  one  finds  in  the  Gill  School  City  in  Phila- 


24      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

delphia,  now  officially  endorsed  by  the  school 
board  and  in  operation  in  thirty-three  schools 
of  that  city.  Equality  in  citizenship  alone  may 
be  counted  a  faulty  ideal  as  compared  with  the 
dreams  of  our  forefathers,  but  if  it  be  realized, 
it  will  be  vastly  more  than  we  enjoy  today,  and 
will  be  the  precursor  of  a  fuller  equality. 

There  remains  to  be  considered  the  educa- 
tion for  manhood  and  womanhood,  or  for  fra- 
ternity. Several  new  departures  in  educational 
methods  may  be  counted  as  allies  in  the  pursuit 
of  this  goal.  The  development  of  the  free 
library  system  during  the  past  decade  is  among 
the  most  marvelous  of  American  educational 
advances.  Nearly  every  state  in  the  union  has 
its  library  commission.  Most  of  them  have 
had  some  experience  in  sending  traveling 
libraries  to  remote  rural  districts,  while  the 
establishment  of  the  free  public  library  in  the 
cities  is  almost  universal.  Massachusetts,  the 
banner  state,  has  reached  that  happy  condition, 
under  the  direction  of  the  library  commission, 
where  only  four  tiny  communities,  with  an 
aggregate  population  of  fewer  than  four  thou- 
sand people,  are  without  free  library  facilities. 
There  are  now  nearly  seven  thousand  public 
libraries  in  the  United  States,  containing  fifty- 
four  million  books.  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
Boston,   Chicago  and   Buffalo   alone  circulate 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  25 

ten  million  volumes  annually.  The  adminis- 
tration of  the  library  has  kept  pace  with  its 
numerical  increase,  until  its  pedagogical  im- 
portance is  second  only  to  the  public  school, 
and  its  methods  are  usually  superior  because 
of  the  greater  liberty  possible  in  the  library. 
Not  the  least  of  the  contributions  of  the  best 
public  libraries  to  the  diffusion  of  a  fraternal 
sentiment  is  the  growing  co-operation  between 
library  and  public  school  and  museum,  whereby 
the  ablest  educators  of  the  community  are  unit- 
ing in  the  unification  of  the  best  public  educa- 
tional institutions  in  the  service  of  the  people. 
The  free  lecture  system  of  New  York  City 
is  the  most  notable  expression  of  an  ideal  akin 
to  that  of  the  use  of  public  libraries,  namely, 
that  education  never  ceases  —  that  no  diploma 
can  serve  as  a  certificate  of  a  complete  educa- 
tion. The  enlightenment  of  the  adult  through 
the  public  school  system  is  one  of  the  demands 
of  the  hour,  and  is  met  better  in  New  York 
City  than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Begin- 
ning with  78,295  auditors  at  one  hundred  and 
eighty-five  lectures  in  1890-91  in  Manhattan, 
the  attendance  at  the  four  thousand  free  lec- 
tures given  in  Greater  New  York  this  last 
winter  reached  the  astounding  figures  of  a  mil- 
lion and  a  quarter.  The  superintendent  has 
also  inaugurated  a  successful   experiment   in 


26      A  DECADE  OE  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

giving  lectures  to  foreign  populations  in  their 
native  tongues,  the  subjects  usually  being  in  the 
field  of  American  history.  The  spirit  of  frater- 
nity ought  certainly  to  be  advanced  when  the 
American  public  schoolhouse  is  opened  in  the 
evening  for  the  instruction  of  recent  immi- 
grants in  the  principles  of  American  life, 
through  the  medium  of  a  tongue  familiar  even 
to  the  unlettered. 

Free  lectures  have  also  been  given  in  Bos- 
ton, Philadelphia,  Chicago  and  elsewhere,  the 
city  of  Milwaukee  having  made  an  enviable 
record  in  being  the  chief  example  outside  of 
New  York  where  public  funds  have  been  ap- 
propriated for  the  delivery  of  lectures  in  the 
schools,  under  the  auspices  of  the  board  of  edu- 
cation. These  public-school  patrons  are  not 
merely  hearers  of  instructive  lectures,  or 
auditors  at  entertaining  concerts,  or  spectators 
at  lantern  exhibitions,  they  are  adult  citizens  in 
process  of  education  in  the  spirit  of  fraternity 
by  attendance  at  the  one  meeting-place  where 
the  distinctions  of  native  and  foreigner,  white 
and  black,  male  and  female,  are  unknown. 

The  well-equipped  schoolhouse  of  today  is 
the  best  promise  for  the  fraternal  spirit  of  the 
future.  The  typical  school  building  of  the  new 
period  includes  a  great  assembly  hall,  the  best 
examples  of  which  may  be  found  in  New  York 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  27 

City,  accessible  on  the  ground  floor,  so  that  the 
children  may  gather  there  at  the  opening  of 
school,  the  parents'  club  or  boys'  or  girls'  club 
may  meet  there  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  open 
lectures  may  be  given  there  in  the  evening. 
For  the  education  of  the  children  the  school- 
house  is  provided  with  classrooms  (not  for  the 
separation  and  confinement  of  the  children,  but 
to  stimulate  activity  and  co-operation),  labora- 
tories, libraries  and  museums,  toilet  rooms, 
rooms  for  rest  and  recreation,  gymnasia  and 
lunch  rooms.  The  building  is  made  beautiful 
by  landscape  architect  and  decorator,  the  latest 
examples  from  St.  Louis  being  two-  or  three- 
story  buildings  set  on  ground  terraced  above 
the  street,  surrounded  by  beautiful  plants,  and 
ornamented  within  by  pictures,  sculpture,  vases, 
and  mural  decorations.  The  schoolhouse  be- 
comes thus  the  center  for  the  instruction, 
recreation,  and  organization  of  young  and  old, 
and  it  has  added  to  its  material  equipment  spa- 
cious grounds  for  purposes  of  recreation  after 
school  hours  and  on  holidays,  as  well  as  during 
the  school  sessions.  One  of  the  most  notable 
examples  of  the  educational  and  social  possi- 
bilities of  the  schoolhouse  is  furnished  by 
Richmond,  Indiana,  where  the  Art  Association 
holds  an  annual  exhibition  of  American  art  and 
craftsmanship  in  the  Garfield  school  building. 


28      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

By  clever  management  and  fine  ideals,  through 
enlisting  not  only  the  attendance  but  the  feeling 
of  possession  of  one-half  of  the  twenty  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  this  annual  exhibition  has 
become  a  democratic  festival. 

The  spirit  of  fraternity  can  nowhere  be 
better  cultivated  than  when  people  come  to- 
gether for  a  common  purpose,  without  regard 
to  political,  religious,  economic,  social  or  other 
distinctions.  This  is  accomplished  today  where 
public-library  buildings  are  used  as  meeting- 
places,  and  above  all  else  in  the  use  of  the 
schoolhouse  for  free  lectures,  meetings  of 
mothers'  and  parents'  clubs,  or  as  social  cen- 
ters. The  value  of  education  in  the  formation 
of  character  will  be  better  appreciated  by  a 
population  which  is  in  the  habit  of  visiting  the 
schoolhouse,  but  fraternity  will  also  be  directly 
encouraged  among  those  people  who  meet  in 
this  one  place,  in  which  there  should  be,  and 
commonly  will  be,  no  barriers.  The  school- 
house  may,  in  fact,  become  a  neighborhood 
guild  hall. 

With  the  advanced  democratic  ideal  of  edu- 
cation there  comes  a  higher  appreciation  of  the 
work  of  the  educator.  The  harmonious  rela- 
tionship of  teacher  and  parent  leads  not  only 
to  a  mutual  understanding  which  is  of  benefit 
to  the  child,  but  enables  the  teacher  to  embrace 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  29 

the  functions  of  friend  and  citizen.  This  ex- 
altation of  the  place  of  the  public-school  teacher 
in  the  furtherance  of  the  ends  of  the  state  leads 
indirectly  to  a  popular  support  of  the  demands 
for  freer  opportunities  and  greater  remunera- 
tion. It  also  encourages  the  teachers  them- 
selves to  effect  organizations  which  may  prove 
of  value  to  the  educational  system  in  securing 
for  the  teacher  just  economic  and  social  recog- 
nition, and  in  inspiring  enlightened  school 
boards  and  honest  citizens  to  frustrate  the 
designs  of  politicians,  contractors  and  text- 
book companies. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  average 
salary  of  the  American  public-school  teacher  is 
$300  a  year,  that  almost  every  year  new  subjects 
of  instruction  are  added  to  her  burden,  and  that 
the  work  is  still  done  in  the  majority  of  cases 
in  ill-ventilated,  badly  lighted,  unadorned 
school  buildings,  to  groups  of  children  com- 
monly twice  as  large  as  the  most  skilful  teacher 
can  manage,  it  is  surprising  that  the  citizen 
receives  any  education  in  democracy.  When 
it  is  still  further  remembered  that  in  the  large 
cities  many  children  find  no  provision  made  for 
them  in  the  overcrowded  schoolhouses,  num- 
bers of  them  are  able  to  attend  one  session  only, 
and  for  the  others  individual  instruction 
adapted  to  their  special  needs  is  almost  un- 


30      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

known,  why  do  we  wonder  at  the  imperfections 
of  the  American  public-school  system?  Yet, 
when  we  sum  up  the  progressive  features  which 
have  been  discussed  in  these  pages,  and  recog- 
nize that  they  are  finding  their  way  into  most 
American  communities  and  receive  admirable 
expression  in  some  of  them,  we  marvel  at  the 
excellence  of  the  American  public-school  sys- 
tem. If  the  cost  of  improvements,  better 
equipped  buildings,  enlarged  curriculum,  and 
well-remunerated  teachers  is  to  be  met,  it  will 
best  be  done  by  the  training  of  the  taxpayer 
through  the  full  utilization  of  the  school  plant 
we  now  have  for  the  education  and  recreation 
of  youth  and  adult  as  many  hours  and  days  and 
months  in  the  year  as  possible.  In  Chicago 
twenty-five  million  dollars'  worth  of  school 
properties  were  kept  by  the  school  board  for 
strictly  "  school "  uses  until  by  act  of  the  Illi- 
nois legislature  the  people  were  granted  the  use 
of  their  own.  In  New  York,  on  the  contrary, 
the  public  has  enjoyed  for  several  years  the  use 
of  public-school  buildings  by  a  more  liberal 
interpretation  of  the  meaning  of  democratic 
education. 

Another  educational  advance  of  the  last 
decade  which  stimulates  the  spirit  of  fraternity 
is  the  development  of  public  recreation.  The 
provision  of  public   recreation   is  not  only  a 


THE  TRAINING  OF  THE  CITIZEN  31 

recognition  of  the  educational  and  hygienic 
value  of  play  but  is  an  expression  of  social 
responsibility.  Every  New  York  schoolhouse 
must  now  be  equipped  with  a  playground,  and 
the  laws  of  New  York  State  make  the  estab- 
lishment of  public  baths  obligatory  on  cities  of 
the  first-class  and  permissible  to  cities  of  the 
second-class.  The  newer  public  parks  of  Bos- 
ton, New  York,  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Indian- 
apolis and  other  cities  are  not  merely  forests 
and  pasture  lands  but  include  playgrounds  for 
children,  open-air  gymnasia,  baths,  boating, 
baseball,  football,  cricket  and  golf  fields,  tennis 
courts  and  other  devices  for  free  public  amuse- 
ment; band  concerts  are  given  in  the  parks  of 
the  chief  cities,  and  even  in  the  winter  concerts 
and  organ  recitals  are  given  in  Boston,  Pitts- 
burg and  elsewhere.  Denver  employs  some  of 
the  best  bands  in  the  country  to  give  free  con- 
certs in  the  City  Park.  The  most  advanced  step 
in  the  provision  of  democratic  recreation  is 
found  in  Chicago,  where  the  seven  small  parks 
opened  this  year  and  the  seven  others  in  process 
of  development  by  the  South  Park  Commis- 
sioners include  in-door  and  out-door  gymna- 
siums and  baths,  play  space  for  young  and  old, 
and  a  neighborhood  center  building  for  public 
meetings  and  entertainments.  There  may  seem 
to  be  only  a  remote  connection  between  public 


32      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

baths,  children's  playgrounds  and  parks  and 
the  growth  of  fraternity,  but,  with  the  multi- 
plication of  common  meeting-places,  especially 
in  those  hours  of  leisure  when  economic  dis- 
tinctions are  obliterated,  there  comes  a  freedom 
of  opportunity  for  genuine  human  intercourse 
and  mutual  understanding  which  has  not  been 
provided  in  the  past  by  other  institutions. 

The  educational  progress  of  the  last  decade 
has  been  in  the  direction  of  advancing  the  inter- 
ests of  an  ideal  which  shall  give  to  American 
youth  a  better  preparation  for  occupation,  citi- 
zenship and  manhood.  Under  proper  direction, 
with  a  conscious  aim,  the  ideal  may  be  at  the 
same  time  attained  of  a  riper  democracy  which 
shall  mean  liberty  for  the  worker  in  production, 
equality  for  the  citizen  in  government,  and  fra- 
ternity for  man  and  woman  in  association. 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY 

The  new  civic  spirit  found  expression  not 
only  in  the  training  of  the  citizen,  but  in  the 
making  of  the  city.  The  training  of  the  citizen 
in  the  making  of  the  city  takes  place,  first, 
through  municipal  reform.  While  the  majority 
of  citizens  are  influenced  more  by  objective 
accomplishment  than  by  the  improvement  of 
political  machinery,  their  faith  in  themselves  is 
stimulated  by  the  reform  of  political  method. 
A  decade  ago  the  average  thoughtful  citizen 
was  despondent.  The  inner  political  conditions 
were  like  the  external  material  conditions  — 
chaotic.  That  complacency  which  is  character- 
istic of  American  public  life  caused  the  citizen 
to  acquiesce  in  a  situation  which  was  to  his  own 
shame,  because  he  was  accustomed  to  abuse  the 
professional  politician,  who  had  come  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  necessary  evil. 

The  increasing  prosperity  which  gave  the 
leisure  and  the  culture  for  social  reform  facili- 
tated municipal  reform.  The  external  improve- 
ment of  the  cities  became  imperative,  and  the 
growth  of  public  activities  made  municipal 
reform  not  only  indispensable  but  possible. 
The  American  has  always  attached  too  much 

33 


34      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

importance  to  political  machinery,  and  has  mis- 
spent his  time  as  a  citizen  in  devising  and  revis- 
ing charters,  when  he  would  have  made  greater 
progress  by  trying  more  diligently  to  accom- 
plish public  work  with  the  imperfect  machinery. 
He  still  places  reliance  upon  automatic  methods, 
and  consequently  the  record  of  municipal 
reform  during  the  last  decade,  while  very 
creditable  as  compared  with  all  the  previous 
history  of  the  country,  is  nevertheless  an 
account  of  municipal  experiments  undertaken 
too  often  in  ignorance  of  the  accomplishments 
of  other  communities. 

From  the  year  1893  the  activities  of  muni- 
cipal reformers  begin  to  be  consciously  directed 
toward  a  goal  which  is  determined  by  an  ex- 
change of  experience  rather  than  a  blind  grop- 
ing in  the  dark.  The  seemingly  spontaneous 
development  of  municipal  leagues  and  the  in- 
troduction of  civil  service  reform,  are  really  the 
result  of  the  diffusion  of  information  regarding 
the  experiences  of  the  different  American  cities. 
The  result,  however,  is  a  movement  which  is 
spectacular  in  the  rapidity  and  extent  of  its 
development.  In  1893  the  first  good  govern- 
ment conference  was  held,  leading  to  the  or- 
ganization of  the  National  Municipal  League. 
In  1894  civil  service  reform  was  introduced 
into  New  York  City,  an  example  followed  by 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  35 

Chicago  in  1895.  Thus  recent  are  the  begin- 
nings, of  a  movement  which  it  would  take  vol- 
umes to  chronicle.  The  merit  system  now 
prevails  in  all  the  large  cities  of  New  York 
State  and  in  many  other  states,  from  Massa- 
chusetts to  California.  The  accomplishments 
of  Mayor  Quincy  in  Boston,  of  Mayors  Strong 
and  Low  in  New  York,  of  Mayor  Pingree  in 
Detroit,  Mayor  Jones  in  Toledo,  Mayor  John- 
son in  Cleveland  and  equally  significant  per- 
formances elsewhere,  are  indicative  of  a  change 
in  the  tone  of  American  municipal  life.  Even 
more  important  perhaps  is  such  a  transforma- 
tion as  has  been  effected  in  the  city  council  of 
Chicago.  The  second  city  in  the  union  has  not, 
hitherto,  been  able  to  boast  of  a  mayor  whose 
deeds  would  bear  comparison  with  those  of  the 
heroes  of  other  cities,  but  a  small  group  of  citi- 
zens, through  the  Municipal  Voters'  League, 
have  converted  a  microscopic  minority  of  hon- 
est aldermen  into  an  aggressive  two-thirds 
majority.  The  significance  of  this  change  as 
contrasted  with  that  of  New  York  is  that  the 
power  remains  in  the  hands  of  the  popular 
representative  body,  and  reliance  is  not  placed 
upon  that  vain  source  of  safety — a  beneficent 
despot;  a  method  which  brought  such  dis- 
appointment to  the  metropolis  in  the  person  of 
Mayor  Van  Wyck. 


36      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Recent  occurrences  give  abundant  cause  for 
discouragement,  but  Minneapolis  and  St.  Louis 
and  Pittsburg  are  developing  a  social  con- 
science, and  municipal  progress  will  unques- 
tionably result.  The  words  of  our  kindly  critic, 
James  Bryce,  are  no  longer  true;  municipal 
government  is  not  the  one  political  failure  in 
America.  The  present  position  and  prospects 
of  the  American  cities  encourage  the  belief  that 
it  is  from  the  urban  communities  that  the  force 
will  come  which  will  make  democratic  govern- 
ment possible.  No  city  outside  of  Pennsylvania 
is  as  corrupt  as  the  rural  districts  of  that  state 
or  Delaware  or  Rhode  Island,  and  the  corrup- 
tion of  Pennsylvania  cities  is  the  product  of 
state  politics.  Deplorable  as  is  the  condition  of 
many  cities,  imperfect  as  is  the  government  of 
the  best  cities,  the  record  of  progress  in  the 
decade  is  a  proud  one,  and  compels  the  belief 
that  the  cities  will  be  redeemed.  The  chief  con- 
firmation of  this  comes  from  the  imperative 
demand  for  municipal  reform,  in  view  of  the 
progress  in  the  making  of  the  city.  The  con- 
ception of  city  making  is  a  newer  one  than  that 
of  municipal  reform.  While  the  city  cannot  be 
properly  made  without  a  clean  and  efficient 
government,  the  process  of  making  it  continues 
in  spite  of  political  imperfection.  There  is  not 
always  a  clear  ideal  of  the  completed  city  to 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  37 

give  to  the  builders,  and  many  of  the  processes 
will  have  to  be  repeated;  but  as  success  is 
achieved  in  executing  details,  the  conception 
will  be  forced  upon  the  citizen  that  nothing  but 
a  complete  ideal  for  the  construction  or  recon- 
struction of  the  whole  city  will  satisfy.  The 
first  thing  to  be  done  in  any  community  is  the 
next  thing  which  can  be  done,  but  we  are 
gradually  learning  that  a  knowledge  of  the 
thing  which  ought  to  be  done  will  in  time  pro- 
duce better  results. 

Logically  the  first  consideration  in  the  mak- 
ing of  the  city  is  topography.  Commercial, 
residential,  and  aesthetic  values  depend  upon  a 
proper  use  of  the  topographical  advantages. 
The  seaport  town  has  rare  opportunities  in 
which  other  cities  are  deficient.  No  American 
city  has  achieved  the  distinction  of  Venice  in 
the  use  of  its  situation,  but  many  of  them  show 
an  imperfect  appreciation  of  their  location. 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  has  a  Battery  Walk 
bordering  its  bay;  Portland,  Maine,  has  an 
esplanade  overlooking  the  water  approach ; 
Boston  has  within  a  decade  reserved  over  five 
miles  of  ocean  frontage  for  purposes  of  beauty 
and  recreation;  New  York  has  its  historic 
Battery  reaching  out  into  the  salt-laden  waters. 
Among  the  river  towns,  few  have  shown 
proper  respect  for  their  chief  source  of  eco- 


327138 


38      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

nomic  and  artistic  success.  Detroit  has  pro- 
vided Belle  Isle  Park  in  the  midst  of  its 
beautiful  river,  and  is  building  its  semi-circular 
boulevard  system  from  river  to  river.  St.  Paul 
has  similarly  devoted  Harriet  Island  in  the 
Mississippi  River  to  recreative  purposes,  and  is 
developing  a  great  boulevard  system  on  both 
banks  of  the  Father  of  Waters.  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  is  entering  upon  a  new  era  in 
showing  regard  for  the  dignity  and  beauty  of 
its  stream.  The  cities  built  upon  the  hills  have 
been  less  regardful  of  their  advantages.  San 
Francisco,  with  a  situation  unparalleled  in 
America,  has  probably  the  maximum  of  un- 
sightly architecture  to  the  square  mile,  partially 
redeemed  by  the  dignified  union  ferry  depot 
which  makes  a  magnificent  entrance  by  way 
of  the  main  thoroughfare,  Market  Street.  Two 
of  the  most  beautifully  situated  cities  in 
America  are  Cincinnati  and  Pittsburg,  both  of 
which  disfigure  the  hills  with  hideous  structures 
and  defile  the  valleys  with  soot,  while  at  the 
same  time  they  are  entirely  without  apprecia- 
tion of  the  importance  of  their  river  frontage, 
neither  Pittsburg  nor  Cincinnati  possessing  a 
dignified  dock  or  other  beautiful  water  ap- 
proach. The  cities  which  are  located  in  the 
plain  must  rely  on  the  railway  company  for 
commerce,     and    landscape     architecture     for 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  39 

beauty.  Perhaps  the  most  successful  of  such 
cities  is  Indianapolis,  which  is  still  too  sub- 
servient to  its  railway  companies  to  permit  of 
its  possessing  proper  terminal  facilities,  al- 
though in  planting  its  trees  and  its  public  parks 
it  has  given  promise  of  a  fine  appreciation  of 
long  vistas  over  a  flat  country.  The  greatest 
success  which  we  have  attained  in  the  use  of 
topographical  advantages  is  to  be  found  in 
Washington,  which  will  receive  a  fuller  dis- 
cussion in  a  subsequent  chapter. 

A  river  approach  often  makes  necessary 
and  possible  bridges  which  may  adorn  the  city 
that  they  serve.  The  monumental  example  is 
the  Brooklyn  bridge,  which,  if  not  beautiful,  is 
dignified  as  seen  from  the  water,  especially  in 
contrast  with  the  new  and  hideous  iron  struc- 
ture north  of  it.  The  high  bridge  over  the 
Harlem  in  New  York  is  probably  the  most 
beautiful  iron  bridge  in  the  country,  and  en- 
courages the  belief  that  if  the  bridge  engineer 
were  to  consult  the  architect,  many  of  our  cities 
would  not  be  so  sadly  disfigured.  The  stone 
bridge  over  the  Harlem  is  also  worthy  of  men- 
tion, although  its  chief  function  is  that  of  carry- 
ing the  Croton  aqueduct.  The  Cabin  John 
bridge  in  the  District  of  Columbia  is  another 
of  the  notable  stone  structures  of  the  country. 
Zanesville,  Ohio,  Waterloo,  Iowa,  Indianapolis, 


40      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

and  other  cities  equally  scattered,  have  achieved 
distinction  by  constructing  concrete  bridges, 
giving  a  wider  span  than  stone,  with  greater 
economy.  Particularly  in  the  case  of  the  three- 
armed  bridge  at  Zanesville  great  beauty  has 
been  added  to  economic  achievement.  Among 
the  great  cities  of  the  country  which  are  not  yet 
awake  to  the  possibilities  of  bridges  might  be 
mentioned  Philadelphia,  Pittsburg,  Cincinnati, 
Louisville,  St.  Louis,  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis, 
not  one  of  which  has  a  bridge  which  does  not 
disfigure  the  stream  it  spans. 

All  cities  which  are  not  seaports  are  under 
the  necessity  of  attaching  great  importance  to 
the  railway  approach.  The  opportunity  for 
beauty  is  as  great  as  that  for  utility  in  the 
union  railway  station.  The  co-ordination  of 
railways  is  perhaps  best  accomplished  in  Bos- 
ton, in  which  the  admirable  service  is  very  un- 
worthily treated  from  an  architectural  stand- 
point in  the  South  Union  Station,  although 
some  degree  of  success  has  been  achieved  in 
the  North  Union  Station.  The  great  union 
station  of  St.  Louis  is  the  most  conspicuous  in 
the  country,  but  its  architecture  is  as  compli- 
cated as  its  service  is  unsatisfactory. 

Several  of  the  railways  in  Chicago  have 
recently  united  in  the  construction  of  a  mas- 
sive and  rather  dignified  building  which  imme- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY 


41 


diately  overlooks  the  elevated  railway  loop, 
and  succeeds  in  retarding  the  possibility  of  even 
a  sectional  union  railway  station  in  Chicago 
for  fifty  years.  Many  of  the  suburban  stations 
of  the  chief  American  railways,  like  those  of 
the  Boston  &  Albany,  Pennsylvania,  the  Chi- 
cago &  Northwestern,  and  the  Chicago,  Mil- 
waukee &  St.  Paul  railways  have  made  worthy 
architectural  contributions  to  the  cities  through 
which  they  pass.  The  greatest  success  has, 
however,  been  achieved  in  the  union  railway 
station  at  Providence,  Rhode  Island.  The  rail- 
way tracks  are  elevated,  avoiding  grade  cross- 
ings; the  station  stands  above  a  great  plaza, 
which  slopes  toward  the  city,  upon  which  are 
also  located,  the  Soldiers'  Monument  and  the 
city  hall.  One  of  the  chief  streets,  accom- 
modating an  important  car  line,  runs  under  the 
station,  and  the  other  trolley  lines  terminate  in 
loops  on  the  plaza.  All  the  transportation 
facilities  of  the  city  are  co-ordinated,  and  the 
station  overlooking  this  great  open  space  has  as 
a  background  the  beautiful  capitol  building  of 
the  state  of  Rhode  Island. 

No  department  of  city  making  has  wit- 
nessed such  marked  progress  during  the  decade 
as  the  functions  connected  with  the  streets. 
Ten  years  ago  few  American  streets  were  well 
paved,    and    fewer   were   clean.      The   typical 


42      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

street  of  the  progressive  city  today  is  broad, 
well  paved,  frequently  cleaned,  free  from  poles, 
well  lighted,  tree-lined  in  the  residence  dis- 
tricts, and  provided  with  underground  systems 
of  conduits,  water  and  sewage  pipes.  The 
newer  streets  of  the  older  cities  are  commonly 
as  broad  as  all  the  streets  of  the  newer  cities. 
Thus  provision  is  made  for  abundant  light,  and, 
if  need  be,  shade  trees  and  lawns.  Several 
cities,  such  as  Columbus,  Ohio,  Denver,  and 
Indianapolis,  in  paving  these  wide  streets,  have 
reduced  the  area  devoted  to  traffic  and  increased 
that  reserved  for  planting,  so  that  a  consider- 
able amount  of  parking  is  found  on  either  side 
of  the  street. 

The  increase  in  the  area  of  paved  streets  is 
the  most  striking  improvement  of  the  decade, 
eclipsing  even  the  great  change  due  to  electric 
traction.  A  visit  to  a  city  from  which  one  has 
been  absent  for  ten  years  furnishes  the  most 
convincing  evidence  that  this  is  the  first  civicj 
advance  in  the  majority  of  American  cities. 
Many  communities,  of  course,  have  indulged  in 
miles  of  paving  which  has  proved  worthless,  so 
that  long  before  the  close  of  the  decade  they 
are  compelled  to  repave  or  endure  a  condition 
which  is  worse  than  the  primitive  one.  Chi- 
cago, Detroit  and  other  cities  which  have  freely 
used  cedar  blocks  laid  on  boards  have  been  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  43 

most  recklessly  indulgent  in  useless  paving. 
These  cities  are  now  mending  their  ways, 
following  the  example  of  New  York,  Phila- 
delphia, Washington,  Buffalo,  Indianapolis, 
and  other  places,  where,  chiefly  through  the  use 
of  asphalt,  a  substantial  and  easily  cleaned 
pavement  has  been  extensively  laid.  The  ex- 
perience of  the  decade  indicates  that  while  the 
surface  must  be  varied  to  suit  the  traffic,  it  is  a 
matter  of  less  importance  than  was  at  first  sup- 
posed. The  twofold  principle  finds  universal 
acceptance  now,  that  a  solid  foundation  covered 
by  a  surface  kept  constantly  in  repair,  gives  not 
only  a  practical  but  an  ideal  pavement.  A 
marked  improvement  has  also  been  effected  in 
the  character  of  sidewalks,  the  brick  of  the 
East  and  the  boards  of  the  West  both  yielding 
to  cement,  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  street 
in  both  convenience  and  appearance. 

The  substantially  paved  street  demands 
other  material  improvements.  The  advantage, 
even  the  necessity,  of  trees,  may  be  illustrated 
by  a  journey  from  New  York  to  New  Haven. 
The  treeless  monotony  of  the  New  York  tene- 
ment and  apartment  house  districts  suggests 
inevitably  a  different  kind  of  life  than  that 
which  may  be  enjoyed  on  the  beautiful  streets 
of  the  "  Elm  City."  The  example  of  Washing- 
ton, Louisville  and  minor  cities  in  entrusting 


44      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

the  care  of  the  street  from  building  line  to 
building  line  to  the  public  authorities  may  well 
be  followed  by  American  cities  generally.  Too 
often,  however,  the  American  city,  forgetful 
that  great  haste  may  mean  less  speed,  sup- 
plants the  trees  by  telephone  and  trolley  poles, 
contributing  to  the  scenery  in  the  absence  of 
foliage  the  exasperating  and  superfluous  bill- 
board. These  are  reactionary  steps  incon- 
sistent with  the  progress  to  be  seen  in  other 
public  activities,  and  endured  only  under  the 
guise  of  commercial  prosperity.  The  trolley 
was  perhaps  inevitable,  but  it  will  undoubtedly 
yield  to  a  superior  mode  of  transit,  as  we  come 
to  have  a  higher  regard  for  the  beauty  of  the 
thoroughfare.  The  electric  light,  telegraph, 
telephone  and  other  poles,  are  made  unneces- 
sary by  the  perfection  of  the  conduit,  which  is 
being  introduced  even  in  the  smaller  cities.  If 
the  bill-board  does  not  defeat  itself  by  bank- 
rupting the  advertiser,  it  will  certainly  sooner 
or  later  convince  the  consumer  that  it  is  an 
unnecessary  extravagance.  The  legislation  of 
Boston  and  Chicago  is  already  menacing  the 
bill-board  companies,  and  in  Boston,  by  the 
Copley  Square  decision,  with  regard  to  sky- 
line, the  courts  have  actually  taken  cognizance 
of  aesthetic  matters,  and  it  will  not  be  much 
longer  necessary  to  prove  that  bill-boards  may 


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THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  45 

damage  life  or  property,  in  order  to  eliminate 
them. 

While  these  superstructures  in  the  streets 
are  being  found  unnecessary,  there  is  a  con- 
stant development  of  substructures.  Some  of 
the  wires  are  being  carried  in  conduits  in- 
several  hundred  American  cities.  The  under- 
ground trolley  is  in  successful  operation  in 
New  York  and  Washington.  Water  and  gas 
pipes  and  sewers  are  found  under  most  of  the 
streets  in  the  well-constructed  cities,  and  occa- 
sionally subways  suggest  the  correlation  of 
such  functions  in  galleries,  the  logical  method 
of  the  future.  With  the  multiplication  of  these 
subterranean  structures  the  regulations  regard- 
ing the  breaking  of  pavements  become  more 
stringent,  and  some  cities  are  moving  toward 
the  construction  of  passenger  subways  like 
those  of  New  York  or  Boston,  or  freight  tun- 
nels, twenty  miles  of  which  are  to  be  found  in 
Chicago. 

The  housing  of  the  people  in  American 
cities  has  received  little  attention  as  a  social 
question,  although  a  great  improvement  has 
been  made  in  domestic  architecture  during  the 
last  ten  years.  While  the  standard  has  risen 
gradually  in  the  houses  of  both  rich  and  poor, 
the  more  beautiful  buildings  of  the  better  resi- 
dence streets  often  lose  much  of  their  beauty 


46      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

by  juxtaposition  with  unsightly  structures. 
What  Mr.  C.  R.  Ashbee  has  called  the  anarchy 
of  American  architecture  is  in  evidence  on 
almost  every  residence  street.  Innumerable 
"  styles  "  abound,  a  sky-line  is  seldom  observed, 
a  building  line  is  difficult  of  enforcement,  and 
the  custom  prevails  in  most  cities  of  making 
the  front  of  the  house  immoderately  ornate, 
and  treating  the  sides  and  rear  as  if  they  were 
invisible.  The  limitation  of  the  sky-line  on 
Copley  Square  in  Boston,  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made,  will  do  much  toward 
establishing  a  precedent  for  concerted  action  in 
American  cities.  Boston  is  also  leading  now 
in  the  general  restriction  of  excessively  tall 
buildings.  Chicago  enjoyed  an  important 
limitation  on  the  height  of  sky-scrapers  for 
several  years,  until  the  council  yielded  to  the 
fanciful  cry  of  shortsighted  landlords,  and  per- 
mitted the  renewal  of  the  custom  of  erecting 
buildings  regardless  of  the  width  of  the  street, 
so  that  when  they  are  confronted  by  buildings 
of  similar  height  the  middle  stories  depreciate 
in  value.  In  no  phase  of  American  life  is  the 
improvement  more  conspicuous  than  in  do- 
mestic and  commercial  architecture,  but  as  yet 
there  is  no*  architectural  tradition  and  no  social 
conscience  which  may  be  relied  upon  to  make 
city  streets  harmoniously  beautiful. 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  47 

The  lack  of  unity  in  American  architecture 
is  quite  as  conspicuous  in  public  as  in  domestic 
buildings,  but  there  have  been  some  achieve- 
ments in  municipal  architecture  in  the  last 
decade  which  may  challenge  the  admiration  of 
the  world.  The  record  is  unfortunately  en- 
cumbered with  the  twenty-five  million  dollar 
extravagance  which  Philadelphians  know  as 
their  municipal  buildings,  and  the  classic  muni- 
cipal mausoleum  of  San  Francisco,  not  to  men- 
tion innumerable  instances  in  minor  cities.  The 
development  of  a  historical  perspective  ac- 
counts not  only  for  some  of  the  most  ambitious 
attempts,  especially  at  colonial  architecture, 
but  also  explains  the  preservation  of  such 
ancient  and  beautiful  structures  as  Independ- 
ence Hall  in  Philadelphia,  once  the  home  of  the 
city  officials,  the  city  hall  of  New  York,  and  the 
delightful  old  Manor  House  which  contains 
the  municipal  offices  of  Yonkers.  That  tradi- 
tion may  be  embodied  in  a  new  building  is 
demonstrated  by  the  beautiful  colonial  court- 
house of  El  Paso  County  at  Colorado  Springs. 

Happily  the  city  hall  is  not  the  only  muni- 
cipal building  and  the  multiplication  of  beauti- 
ful libraries,  art  galleries,  schoolhouses  and 
even  fire  and  police  stations,  is  the  best  guaran- 
tee that  ere  long  all  public  architecture  will  be 
beautiful.    Mention  was  made  of  the  increasing 


48      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

attention  being  given  to  the  architecture  and 
decoration  of  school  buildings  in  discussing 
"  The  Training  of  the  Citizen."  The  most  im- 
portant public  building  is  the  schoolhouse,  be- 
cause each  neighborhood  contains  one  and  the 
future  citizens  are  consciously  or  unconsciously 
receiving  there  the  aesthetic  ideals  which  will 
guide  the  coming  generation.  The  entire  com- 
munity is  educated  by  the  possession  of  such 
high  schools  as  grace  Menomonie,  Wisconsin, 
Duluth,  New  York,  or  Washington,  but  the 
chief  importance  of  the  schoolhouse  is  in  its 
influence  on  a  neighborhood.  Some  of  the 
recent  school  architecture  in  St.  Louis  is  su- 
perior to  that  of  any  building  devoted  to  art  in 
America,  not  even  excepting  the  classic  gem 
which  adorns  Buffalo's  chief  park,  for  that  is 
exotic,  while  the  very  problem  of  the  school 
almost  compels  such  originality  as  has  been 
exhibited  in  St.  Louis. 

Quite  tiny  communities  enjoy  today  the 
benediction  of  a  beautiful  schoolhouse.  Ando- 
ver,  Massachusetts,  vies  with  Highland  Park 
and  Winnetka,  Illinois,  and  Montecito,  Cali- 
fornia, in  such  provision.  Even  these  small 
places  are  not  content  any  more  than  are  the 
larger  cities,  with  buildings  merely  utilitarian 
and  beautiful  in  architecture.  The  interior 
decorations  and  the  setting  are  now  given  con- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  49 

sideration,  the  splendid  example  set  years  ago 
by  the  Medford,  Massachusetts,  high  school 
leading  to  the  elaborate  mural  paintings  of 
some  of  the  newer  Chicago  schools.  A  mere 
catalogue  of  public  architectural  accomplish- 
ments would  serve  to  fire  the  enthusiasm  of 
the  public-spirited  citizen,  but  even  that  is  too 
long  for  tabulation  here.  One  may  recall,  how- 
ever, the  triumphs  of  the  Boston  Public  Li- 
brary, the  Library  of  Congress,  the  New  York 
Appellate  Court,  the  Baltimore  courthouse, 
the  Cincinnati  city  hall  and  the  still  uncom- 
pleted capitol  buildings  of  Rhode  Island,  Penn- 
sylvania and  Minnesota. 

Scarcely  less  important  than  the  public 
buildings  are  the  monuments  and  fountains 
which  may  adorn  the  city  streets.  The  great- 
est of  these  antedate  the  decade,  such,  for  ex- 
ample, as  the  Washington  monuments  in  Balti- 
more and  Washington,  the  Shaw  memorial  in 
Boston,  St.  Gaudens's  "  Lincoln "  in  Chicago, 
the  Soldiers'  Monument  in  Indianapolis,  and 
the  effective  street  decorations  of  the  national 
capital.  Such  worthy  additions  as  the  Farragut 
memorial  in  Madison  Square,  New  York,  the 
Labor  monument  in  San  Francisco,  the  Chinese 
missionary  memorial  arch  in  Oberlin,  and  the 
pergola,  erected  by  the  Chicago  Woman's  Club 


50      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

on  North  State  Street  betoken  the  lively  inter- 
est manifested  in  municipal  art. 

The  realization  of  the  city's  plan  requires 
not  only  the  knowledge  of  the  details  which 
has  been  acquired  during  the  last  decade,  but 
also  concerted  action  toward  a  well-defined 
goal.  The  spectacular  instances  of  Boston, 
Washington  and  Harrisburg  will  be  discussed 
at  length  in  subsequent  chapters.  There  are 
three  features  of  city  planning  which  are  more 
frequently  considered  :  civic  centers,  boulevards 
and  pleasure  grounds.  The  beauty  of  public 
buildings  may  be  lost  and  their  utility  to  the 
city  diminished  unless  they  are  appropriately 
grouped.  Several  American  cities  are  begin- 
ning to  appreciate  the  convenience  and  charm 
of  such  grouping  as  one  finds  in  Paris,  Berlin, 
Vienna,  Stuttgart,  and  the  southern  European 
cities  generally.  Mayor  Low  proposed  a  scheme 
for  locating  a  great  municipal  building  and 
terminal  railway  station  on  the  Brooklyn  bridge 
side  of  City  Hall  Park  in  New  York  City,  and 
a  similar  but  more  satisfactory  plan  has  been 
suggested  for  the  borough  buildings  of  Brook- 
lyn. On  the  initiative  of  the  Cleveland  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  an  ambitious  and  beautiful 
lake  front  plan  is  about  to  be  realized  in  the 
chief  city  of  Ohio.  The  public  library  is 
housed  in  temporary  quarters  awaiting  the  con- 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  51 

summation  of  this  project  which  includes  a 
great  "mall"  lined  by  the  chief  public  build- 
ings of  the  city,  stretching  from  the  business 
center  to  the  lake,  where  it  will  overlook  the 
harbor  and  union  railway  station. 

The  new  capitol  buildings  at  St.  Paul  and 
Providence  have  fired  the  imagination  of 
public-spirited  citizens  and  public  officials  so 
that  the  new  approaches  are  but  the  beginning 
of  city  reconstruction.  The  Municipal  Art 
Society  of  Hartford  has  made  a  special  study 
of  civic  centers  with  a  view  to  the  grouping  of 
public  buildings  about  the  Connecticut  capitol 
and  Bushnell  Park.  A  modest  plan  is  suggested 
for  Syracuse,  where  the  completion  of  the  Car- 
negie Library  and  the  construction  of  the  court- 
house at  the  intersection  of  several  streets  make 
a  civic  center  possible.  Chicago's  new  lake 
front  park,  which  is  to  contain  the  Columbian 
Museum  may  also  make  provision  for  such  a 
grouping  of  public  buildings,  as  it  already  con- 
tains the  art  gallery  and  is  bordered  by  the  pub- 
lic library.  One  of  the  most  promising  of  recent 
projects  is  the  scheme  of  the  Chautauqua 
authorities  for  beautifying  the  summer  city  by 
the  lake,  according  to  a  co-operative  plan  of 
architect,  landscape  architect  and  sculptor. 

The  comprehensive  plan   in  city  building, 
ambitious  as  it  is,  spreads  with  a  wholesome 


52      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

contagion.  Philadelphia  is  opening  up  a  vista 
of  its  monster  city  hall  to  Fainnount  Park,  giv- 
ing for  the  first  time  a  dignified  approach  to  one 
of  America's  most  famous  and  beautiful  pleas- 
ure grounds,  and  involving  the  reconstruction 
time  various  civic  bodies  and  patriotic  citizens 
of  a  portion  of  the  heart  of  the  city.  At  the  same 
are  proposing  the  redemption  of  the  Schuylkill 
river  banks  and  other  hitherto  undreamt  of 
improvements.  Pittsburg  possesses  in  its 
county  building  one  of  Richardson's  master- 
pieces, the  best  of  the  modern  public  buildings 
in  Pennsylvania.  It  is  planning  now  to  raze 
the  slum  north  of  the  courthouse,  thus  at  once 
providing  a  beautiful  setting  for  the  great  pub- 
lic building,  which  has  been  overshadowed  by 
encroaching  skyscrapers,  and  establishing  a 
nucleus  for  the  civic  center  of  the  future.  The 
new  federal  building  in  Indianapolis  has  been 
so  well  located  with  reference  to  an  adjoining 
public  square  and  the  thoroughfares  and  other 
public  buildings  of  Indiana's  capital  that  a  new 
era  in  civic  architecture  is  heralded. 

Buffalo  has  achieved  at  one  stroke,  through 
the  inspiration  and  skill  of  a  local  architect, 
George  Cary,  one  of  the  most  spectacular  pieces 
of  city  reconstruction  in  the  new  century.  Its 
original  plan  was  excellent,  great  avenues  radi- 
ating from  the  harbor,  but  with  the  increasing 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  53 

importance  of  steam  locomotion  and  the  stupid 
or  accidental  location  of  the  railway  stations  on 
undesirable  sites,  the  business  section  of  the  city- 
has  come  to  have  no  logical  relation  to  the  city 
plan.  For  years  a  futile  discussion  has  been  in 
progress  regarding  the  possibility  of  a  union 
railway  station,  petty  private  interests  and  pub- 
lic incompetence  having  conspired  to  produce 
innumerable  inadequate  schemes.  Mr.  Cary 
proposed  the  location  of  the  station  at  the  point 
where  the  great  avenues  converge,  giving  a 
connection  between  the  water  and  steam  ap- 
proaches, on  the  one  hand,  and  interurban  and 
urban  transportation,  on  the  other.  At  the 
same  time  the  transformation  of  the  triangle 
before  the  station  into  a  public  park,  and  the 
reconstruction  of  that  whole  area  of  the  city, 
make  possible  a  new  civic  center  and  restore 
the  original  admirable  city  plan. 

From  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  the  idea 
is  taking  root  that  unrelated  improvements  are 
necessary  and  desirable  in  the  first  civic  awak- 
ening, but  inadequate  if  the  public  can  be 
educated  to  the  value  of  correlation  and  com- 
prehensiveness. The  Lewis  and  Clark  Cen- 
tennial Exposition  at  Portland  will  do  for  the 
Pacific  cities  what  other  expositions  have  done 
for  the  East.  Prophetic  of  the  future  were  the 
civic  congress,  to  which  eastern  experts  con- 


54      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

tributed,  and  the  organization  of  a  league  of 
Pacific  coast  cities,  in  the  inspiring  environment 
of  the  towers  and  turrets,  the  water  courses  and 
heights  of  Portland.  Mr.  Rufus  M.  Steele 
says  of  San  Francisco: 

The  first  practical  fruits  of  the  new  feeling  came  on 
September  29,  1903,  when  the  city  voted  bonds  in  the 
sum  of  $17,771,000  for  improvements.  An  analysis  of 
the  amount  is  interesting.  The  items  which  consti- 
tuted it  were  these:  $1,000,000  for  a  new  City  and 
County  hospital ;  $7,250,000  for  a  new  sewer  system ; 
$3,595.°°°  f°r  new  schoolhouses  and  play-grounds ; 
$1,621,000  for  repairing  and  improving  streets;  $697,- 
000  for  a  new  county  jail  and  improving  the  Hall  of 
Justice;  $1,647,000  for  a  public  library  building;  $741,- 
000  for  children's  play-grounds ;  $330,000  for  acquiring 
land  to  connect  Golden  Gate  park  and  the  Presidio ; 
$293,000  for  acquiring  lands  for  Mission  park.  The 
Supreme  Court  having  upheld  the  validity  of  these 
bonds,  they  are  now  upon  the  market,  and  their  con- 
version into  cash  marks  the  commencement  of  work 
upon  the  improvements. 

No  phase  of  city  making  speaks  more  elo- 
quently of  the  change  in  American  ideals  than 
the  growth  of  parks,  playgrounds  and  boule- 
vards. For  many  years  such  cities  as  Brooklyn 
and  Philadelphia  have  boasted  of  the  posses- 
sion of  a  great  and  beautiful  park,  and  Chicago 
has  been  noted  for  its  public  driveways,  but 
within  the  decade  the  idea  has  developed  that 
not  acreage  or  mileage,  but  distribution  is  the 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  55 

standard  to  guide  park  commissions.  The 
park,  the  playground  and  the  boulevard  are 
now  seen  to  be  organic  parts  of  the  city  —  the 
respiratory  system,  perhaps  we  may  say.  The 
finest  appreciation  of  this  fact  is  found  in  Bos- 
ton, New  York  and  Washington,  which  will  be 
described  in  subsequent  chapters. 

It  may  suffice  here  to  give  Chicago  as  an 
illustration  of  the  city  undergoing  a  change  of 
heart  regarding  its  pleasure  grounds.  The  old 
park  and  boulevard  system  encircled  the  old 
city,  and  because  of  its  forming  a  peripheral 
system,  forty  miles  in  extent,  the  facts  were 
overlooked  that  since  it  was  laid  out  thirty 
years  ago  the  inner  wards  had  become  fright- 
fully congested  without  being  relieved  by  even 
small  playgrounds,  the  connecting  avenues  had 
been  largely  surrendered  to  trolley  lines,  and 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  park  system  the  city 
had  more  than  doubled  in  size.  The  city  is 
now  trying  to  redeem  itself  by  providing  muni- 
cipal playgrounds  in  the  congested  wards,  eight 
being  already  in  use;  by  establishing  a  system 
of  small  parks  where  breathing  spaces  are  most 
needed,  $4,500,000  having  been  already  appro- 
priated ;  by  extending  the  present  park  system 
so  that  the  business  center  and  other  neglected 
districts  may  be  served ;  and  by  establishing  an 
outer   zone   of   rural   parks   in   the   suburban 


56      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

regions.  During  the  last  two  years  Chicago 
has  added  over  a  thousand  acres  to  its  park  sys- 
tem, which  for  thirty  years  had  remained  sta- 
tionary at  an  area  which  was  smaller  than  one 
park  of  Philadelphia,  Lynn,  or  Los  Angeles. 
No  fewer  than  fourteen  parks  and  playgrounds 
are  being  established  on  the  South  Side  alone 
this  year. 

The  achievements  of  other  American  cities  in 
park-making  during  the  decade  are  even  more 
encouraging.  Indianapolis,  Louisville,  Cleve- 
land and  Kansas  City  have  developed  admir- 
able park  systems  of  from  1 ,000  to  2,000  acres, 
fairly  well  distributed,  and  Louisville  has  also 
beautiful  drives  and  eight  playgrounds.  Toledo 
has  a  park  system  of  over  eight  hundred  acres, 
which  includes  eight  large  parks  and  numerous 
small  squares  and  triangles  as  integral  parts  of 
the  city's  plan.  The  parks  of  some  of  the 
minor  cities  have  such  rare  beauty  that  the 
time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  the  public  will 
be  so  affected  by  their  significance  that  the 
cities  will  be  made  equally  beautiful.  Such 
cities  are  Hartford,  Connecticut,  Watertown, 
New  York,  Mansfield  and  Youngstown,  Ohio, 
Riverside,  Illinois,  Elkhart  and  Richmond,  In- 
diana, Pueblo,  Colorado,  and  San  Jose,  Cali- 
fornia. Already  the  delights  of  the  parks  and 
boulevards  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  have 


THE  MAKING  OF  THE  CITY  57 

permeated  the  public  mind  until  the  treatment 
of  the  entire  river  front  of  the  twin  cities  is 
being  considered,  and  St.  Paul  proposes  a  union 
of  that  plan  and  the  civic  center  scheme,  con- 
necting the  magnificent  new  capitol  building 
and  the  post-office  with  the  municipal  buildings 
and  the  river. 

The  making  of  the  new  city  will  mean  the 
making  of  a  new  citizen,  and  the  process  is  in 
no  sense  visionary.  Almost  every  American 
city  is  already  infected  with  the  new  ideals, 
while  some  of  the  leading  cities  are  far  ad- 
vanced in  their  realization.  The  crude  con- 
ceptions of  an  earlier  generation,  which  planned 
city  streets  with  the  rough  precision  of  the 
ploughman's  furrows,  have  been  transformed 
by  the  experience  of  the  decade.  The  compre- 
hensive plan  of  the  temporary  White  City  is 
the  standard  for  the  aesthetic  and  material  re- 
construction of  Washington,  Boston,  and 
Harrisburg,  as  it  will  be  of  cities  generally 
when  the  newer  citizenship  has  learned  the  art 
of  city  making. 


"THE  WHITE  CITY"  AND  AFTER 

The  significance  of  expositions  as  models 
of  city  making  is  beginning  to  rival  their  im- 
portance as  institutions  for  popular  education 
in  commercial  and  industrial  processes.  This 
was  overlooked  in  the  Centennial  exposition  of 
Philadelphia,  which  was  a  mere  congeries  of 
shelters  for  works  of  scientific  and  artistic  ex- 
cellence. It  has  also  been  ignored  in  the  suc- 
cessive Paris  expositions,  for  the  art  of  city 
making  is  in  Paris  an  accomplished  fact.  Paris 
is  not  only  a  city  of  spectacles,  it  is  itself  the 
world's  greatest  modern  spectacle.  Hence 
when  Paris  holds  an  exposition  it  must  be  an 
integral  part  of  the  city,  which  would  otherwise 
eclipse  the  temporary  show.  The  exposition 
site  is  logically  along  the  Seine,  the  great  cen- 
tral artery  of  the  city-  The  temporary  exposi- 
tion buildings  have  as  a  background  the  per- 
manent and  noble  public  buildings  of  the 
French  capital,  to  which  each  exposition  has 
contributed  one  or  more  lasting  monuments. 
In  the  waters  of  the  Seine,  the  verdure  of  the 
boulevards,  the  harmony  of  architectural  ac- 
complishment; here  are  already  the  elements 
of  the  greatest  and  most  beautiful  expositions. 

59 


60      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Our  American  cities  are  lacking  in  unity  of 
purpose  and  harmony  of  design.  The  desire 
for  immediate  pecuniary  results,  the  dominance 
of  commercial  motives,  the  assertiveness  of 
powerful  individuals,  lacking  artistic  education, 
and  the  scorn  of  public  supervision  have  made 
of  the  typical  American  city  a  miscellany  of 
dingy  warehouses,  tawdry  shops,  squalid  tene- 
ments, tasteless  mansions,  usually  monotonous 
but  sometimes  variegated  streets.  There  is 
not  unity,  but  neither  is  there  pronounced 
individuality,  only  restlessness.  The  sole 
example  of  comprehensive  treatment  dating 
from  an  earlier  period,  is  Washington,  which 
possesses  unparalleled  opportunities,  but  can 
never  quite  obliterate  the  mistakes  of  nine- 
teenth-century ignorance.  Aside  from  the 
capital  city,  which  will  be  considered  in  a  sub- 
sequent chapter,  the  epoch-making  achievement 
in  the  execution  of  a  comprehensive  plan  was 
the  Chicago  World's  Fair  of  1893. 

For  the  first  time  in  American  history  a 
complete  city,  equipped  with  all  the  public 
utilities  caring  for  a  temporary  population  of 
thousands  (on  one  day  over  three-quarters  of 
a  million),  was  built  as  a  unit  on  a  single 
architectural  scale.  The  rare  site  by  the  irrides- 
cent  waters  of  Lake  Michigan,  the  wonders  of 
science,  the  glories  of  art,  the  beauties  of  archi- 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  61 

tecture,  the  fraternal  spirit  of  the  world's  con- 
gresses, are  all  accessory  to  the  chief  signifi- 
cance of  the  Columbian  Exposition  as  the 
memorial  of  the  discovery  of  the  New  World 
—  the  making  of  a  new  city,  the  White  City. 

The  White  City  came  in  the  fulness  of 
time;  its  elements  were  necessarily  in  existence 
in  other  cities,  as  its  executives,  architects, 
artists,  builders  and  engineers  were  success- 
fully plying  their  callings  elsewhere,  but  no- 
where had  they  united  in  a  common  purpose 
for  the  immediate  achievement  of  a  compre- 
hensive result.  There  was  nothing  unique  in 
the  World's  Fair  but  the  White  City  itself. 
Previous  expositions  had  shown  great  collec- 
tions of  art.  Steam  and  electricity,  invention 
and  discovery  had  been  displayed  to  the  world 
before,  if  not  on  so  large  a  scale.  The  indus- 
trial, social  and  intellectual  accomplishments  of 
the  nations  were  known  at  least  to  the  student. 
The  Yerkes  telescope  had  had  predecessors. 
The  Ferris  wheel  was  not  so  imposing  as  the 
Eiffel  Tower.  Even  the  architecture,  in  its 
temporary  brilliancy,  did  not  rival  the  great 
buildings  of  this  or  other  countries.  The 
talented  leader  of  the  new  architectural  school, 
who  designed  the  very  original  Transportation 
building,  had  already  achieved  greater  distinc- 
tion in  the  Chicago  Auditorium  and  other  con- 


62      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

spicuous  successes.  The  scuiptors  and  mural 
decorators  had  had  no  such  opportunity  before, 
but  their  talents  were  well  known  and  their 
products  legion.  The  excellent  work  of  en- 
gineers and  landscape  architects  was  the  result 
of  the  great  improvements  which  had  been 
going  on  in  the  various  cities  of  the  country. 

The  White  City  was  unique  in  being  an 
epitome  of  the  best  we  had  done,  and  a  prophecy 
of  what  we  could  do,  if  we  were  content  with 
nothing  but  the  best,  and  added  to  individual 
excellence  a  common  purpose.  The  White  City 
was  the  most  socialistic  achievement  of  history, 
the  result  of  many  minds  inspired  by  a  common 
aim  working  for  the  common  good.  There 
was  no  loss  of  individuality,  no  place  for  indi- 
vidualism. The  individual  was  great  but  the 
collectivity  was  greater.  Never  before  in  our 
history  had  architects  and  artists  so  great  an 
inspiration.  Architecture,  sculpture,  mural 
decoration  reached  their  zenith,  because  all  was 
done  in  the  name  of  the  nation,  to  glorify  four 
hundred  years  of  public  progress.  More  than 
that,  the  Chicago  World's  Fair  was  a  miniature 
of  the  ideal  city. 

The  situation  was  as  beautiful  as  that  of 
Venice.  It  was  in  fact  the  realization  of  the 
possibilities  of  the  site  of  Chicago.  Both  the 
Black  City  and  the  White  City  were  lapped  by 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  63 

the  waves  of  Michigan  whose  blue-green  waters 
penetrated  deep  into  the  heart  of  each  city. 
In  the  one  case  the  waters  were  bordered  by 
ugly  docks  and  warehouses,  spanned  by  hideous 
bridges,  and  defiled  by  the  city's  foulness,  while 
they  flowed  under  a  murky  sky.  In  the  other, 
they  were  lined  by  fairy  architecture,  immacu- 
late docks  and  strips  of  verdure  and  crossed  by 
graceful  bridges,  while  the  clearness  of  an 
azure  sky  found  reflection  in  the  pure  waters. 
The  White  City  was  the  symbol  of  regenera- 
tion. The  municipality  which  would  redeem 
itself  must  begin  by  a  realization  of  its  topo- 
graphic advantages. 

Chicago  has  been  slow  to  learn  this  lesson, 
but  the  significance  of  the  Columbian  Exposi- 
tion, at  the  beginning  of  the  decade,  is  being 
seen  at  its  close.  The  South  Park  commis- 
sioners have  not  only  treated  Jackson  Park  as 
the  site  of  the  World's  Fair  deserves,  but  they 
are  now  spending  two  million  and  a  half  of 
dollars  on  the  improvement  of  the  lake  front  in 
the  heart  of  the  city.  The  day  is  not  far  dis- 
tant when  a  beautiful  park  will  penetrate  a  half 
a  mile  into  Lake  Michigan.  The  trustees  of 
the  sanitary  district  have  turned  the  waters  of 
the  lake  into  the  Chicago  River  with  the  result 
of  obvious  purification.  They  are  now  adding 
to  their  achievements,   in  the  name  of  com- 


64      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

merce,  by  supplanting  the  old  swinging  center- 
pier  bridges  by  vastly  superior  rolling  lift 
bridges.  To  complete  the  evidence  of  the 
impression  made  by  the  White  City,  the  Mu- 
nicipal Art  League,  city  officials,  commercial 
organizations  and  private  citizens  are  gaining 
ground  daily  in  the  abatement  of  the  smoke 
nuisance. 

The  regard  for  the  fundamental  importance 
of  topography  was  also  shown  in  the  treatment 
of  the  transportation  problem.  A  great  pier 
stretching  out  into  the  lake  was  traversed  by  a 
moving  sidewalk  which  carried  visitors  to  the 
boats  plying  between  the  city  and  the  Fair. 
Electric  launches  and  gondolas  on  the  lagoons 
provided  a  delightful  means  of  reaching  almost 
any  part  of  the  Exposition,  exhibiting  the  pos- 
sibilities of  water  transportation  in  cities 
located  on  waterways.  Connection  was  also 
made  between  the  pier  and  all  other  parts  of 
the  grounds,  including  the  railway  stations,  by 
an  intramural  elevated  railway  operated  by 
electricity.  The  steam  and  elevated  railways 
from  the  outer  world  reached  the  extreme 
southwestern  portion  of  the  grounds  with  a 
minimum  of  inconvenience,  and  the  stations 
were  designed  to  be  embellishments  rather  than 
the  traditional  disfigurements  of  many  cities. 

The  transportation  service  was  efficient  but 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  65 

subordinate.  So  in  all  the  other  public  func- 
tions nothing  was  done  to  detract  from  the 
beauty  and  harmony  of  the  White  City.  Few 
American  cities  are  as  well  paved  and  none  as 
well  cleaned  as  was  the  ephemeral  city  of  1893. 
The  substantial  macadamized  roads  were  laid 
as  though  they  were  to  serve  the  next  genera- 
tion but  were  cleaned  as  though  there  were  to 
be  no  tomorrow.  The  nightly  cleaning  was 
followed  by  the  watchful  care  of  the  day 
sweepers,  both  being  aided  by  the  admirable 
grading  of  the  roads,  which  invited  the  assist- 
ance of  nature.  Here  was  the  one  flaw  in  the 
sanitary  arrangements  of  the  World's  Fair  — 
the  drainage  was  into  the  lake,  contributing  to 
the  pollution  of  the  water  supply  of  Chicago 
and  the  Fair.  The  provision  for  water,  both 
for  domestic  and  public  uses,  was  adequate  to 
the  needs  of  the  various  buildings,  the  numer- 
ous restaurants,  the  public  comfort  stations, 
and  the  street  cleaning  and  fire  departments. 
There  was  even  a  concession  let  for  the  supply 
of  Waukesha  water  by  a  pipe  line,  which 
challenged  the  faith  of  the  incredulous.  The 
electric  light,  telephone  and  telegraph  wires 
were  carried  in  conduits,  and  the  other  subter- 
ranean constructions  were  so  laid  that  the  street 
paving  remained  undisturbed  subsequently. 
The  disposition  of  the  wastes  of  the  Exposition 


66      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

would  have  satisfied  the  officials  of  Glasgow, 
while  the  police,  fire  and  ambulance  stations 
were  like  the  services  they  made  possible,  ac- 
cording to  the  best  American  methods.  These 
municipal  functions  were  so  organized  that 
while  the  public  was  served  the  methods  were 
inconspicuous.  The  utilities  were  never  neg- 
lected, indeed  they  were  better  cared  for  than 
in  any  city,  but  the  dominant  note  of  the  Expo- 
sition was  constantly  the  aesthetic.  There 
never  was  a  better  demonstration  of  the  fact 
that  proper  regard  for  the  utilitarian  is  the  best 
guarantee  of  the  beautiful. 

The  positive  elements  which  united  to  make 
the  White  City  an  imperishable  memory  con- 
sisted of  two  natural  features  and  the  dual 
contribution  of  man's  hand ;  water  and  verdure, 
architecture  and  sculpture.  Even  in  the  case 
of  the  former  there  was  the  happy  demonstra- 
tion that  man  may  add  to  the  beauties  of  nature 
as  he  did  in  the  graceful  road  bordering  the 
lake,  the  walls  about  the  lagoons,  and  the  judi- 
cious landscape  architecture  of  the  grounds.  It 
was  an  inspiration  which  led  to  the  retention  of 
the  wooded  isle  in  the  midst  of  the  spaciousness 
of  the  Fair,  where  on  the  lawns,  under  the  trees, 
and  beside  the  still  waters  of  the  lagoons  one 
might  find  rest  from  the  kaleidoscopic  interests 
of  the  Exposition. 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  67 

There  was  great  and  discriminating  beauty- 
given  to  the  grounds  by  the  sculptural  deco- 
rations. Not  only  the  massive  statue  of  the 
republic,  the  MacMonnies  fountain  and  the 
great  figures  on  the  Administration  building, 
but  also  the  heroic  animals  guarding  the  ap- 
proaches to  the  bridges  and  other  minor  works 
of  art  gave  a  satisfaction  which  the  most  skil- 
fully adorned  cities  of  the  Old  World  could  not 
excel.  Yet  the  grand  triumph  of  the  White 
City  was  the  Court  of  Honor,  where  the  great- 
est ideal  of  modern  city  making  received  its 
unrivaled  demonstration  —  architecture  and 
water,  great  buildings  on  a  single  scale  grouped 
about  a  lagoon,  massive  sculptural  embellish- 
ments entirely  subordinate  to  the  main  features. 

The  focus  of  the  White  City  was,  quite 
properly,  the  Administration  building,  sug- 
gestive once  more  of  a  cardinal  principle  in  city 
making.  The  structure's  great  dome  over- 
looked an  ample  plaza  facing  the  lagoon,  with 
the  MacMonnies  fountain  in  the  foreground, 
and  beyond  was  balanced  by  the  Peristyle,  the 
gateway  of  the  city,  before  which  stood  the 
giant  statue  of  the  republic.  The  lagoon  was 
flanked  by  the  greatest  buildings  of  the  Fair, 
which  with  their  differing  architecture  and 
varying  size,  including  the  huge  Manufactures 
building  and  its  dominating  roof,  nevertheless 


68      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

were  constructed  on  a  single  scale  and  pre- 
sented a  marvelous  harmony.  Whether  by  day 
or  by  night  the  Court  of  Honor  was  a  model 
for  the  guidance  of  all  cities.  In  the  glare  of 
the  sun  the  great  white  buildings  still  kept  their 
irresistible  fascination,  for  the  coolness  of  the 
lagoon  and  fountains  relieved  their  brilliancy; 
under  the  light  of  the  moon  one  could  feel  him- 
self transplanted  to  the  world  of  romance ;  but 
it  was  when  illuminated  by  electricity  that  the 
Court  of  Honor  became  the  apotheosis  of  man's 
ingenuity.     As  Mrs.  Schuyler  Van  Rensselaer 

has  said : 

At  Chicago  we  realized  for  the  first  time  what  im- 
pressive poetic,  witching  beauty  may  be  created  by  the 
use  of  artificial  light.  In  one  sense  it  is  not  an  artistic 
beauty;  in  another  it  is;  for  it  is  created  by  the  hand 
of  man,  although  with  one  of  nature's  agencies  and  can- 
not fully  reveal  itself  except  upon  an  elaborate  archi- 
tectural background.  And  it  is  the  one  kind  of  beauty 
that  modern  men  have  evolved  without  any  help  from 
tradition  or  precedent.  It  is  the  one  kind  of  beauty 
that  we  possess  and  that  the  ancients,  so  greatly  our 
superiors  in  the  production  of  many  other  kinds,  knew 
nothing  whatever  about. 

The  full  majesty  of  the  Court  of  Honor  and 
its  greatest  revelation  to  the  makers  of  cities 
came  on  Monday,  the  9th  of  October,  1893, 
when  in  celebration  of  the  twenty-third  anni- 
versary of  the  burning  of  Chicago,  761,942 
people    paid    admission    to   the    grounds    and 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  69 

nearly  half  a  million  souls  must  have  been  at 
one  time  within  view  of  this  great  central  area 
of  the  Fair  —  many  more  than  the  entire  popu- 
lation of  Chicago  at  the  time  of  the  fire.  Then 
the  human  mass  gave  life  to  the  beautiful  court 
with  its  background  of  majestic  architecture, 
and  man's  latest  civic  triumph  had  been 
achieved.  But  the  end  of  the  Court  of  Honor 
was  as  humiliating,  if  not  as  ghastly,  as  the 
conflagration  of  Chicago.  It  was  consumed  by 
fire,  but  may  it  not  have  been  a  purifying  fire, 
destroying  the  dross  of  staff  and  wood,  that  in 
the  foundations  of  this  great  human  achieve- 
ment may  be  founded  the  art  of  permanent  city 
making? 

The  influence  of  the  Columbian  Exposition 
has  been  felt  not  only  in  new  architectural  and 
constructive  efforts  in  public  buildings,  parks, 
and  streets,  but  also  in  subsequent  expositions. 
The  idea  of  unity  through  the  harmonious 
grouping  of  buildings  constructed  on  a  single 
scale  has  been  realized  in  every  exposition  since 
1893,  notably  at  Omaha  and  Charleston.  The 
success  of  this  method  is  apparent  to  every  ob- 
server, although  he  may  not  understand  its 
cause  or  purpose.  It  has  been  explained  from 
the  architect's  standpoint,  in  writing  of  the 
Pan-American  Exposition,  by  Mr.  John  M. 
Carrere,  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Architects : 


70      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

One  of  the  most  important  factors  in  the  harmony 
of  the  entire  artistic  composition,  which  are  generally 
felt  but  not  understood  by  the  layman,  is  what  the 
artist  calls  scale,  by  which  is  meant  the  proper  propor- 
tion of  detail  to  the  masses,  and  the  proper  relation  of 
these  masses  to  each  other  and  of  the  whole  to  the 
human  stature,  so  that  each  building  may  look  its  actual 
size,  and  each  part  of  the  building  may  in  turn  bear  its 
proper  relation  to  that  size.  It  must  be  apparent  to  any 
one  that  to  maintain  the  scale  in  a  composition  of  this 
character,  conceived,  studied,  and  executed  in  a  very 
short  space  of  time,  under  the  most  difficult  conditions 
and  by  different  architects,  constitutes  a  real  difficulty, 
and  yet  the  entire  harmony  of  the  composition,  from 
the  artistic  point  of  view,  would  suffer  in  no  case  more 
than  in  the  lack  of  scale.  For  this  reason  the  main 
effort  of  the  Board  of  Architects  has  been  to  maintain 
this  scale  in  every  part  of  the  composition,  whether  in 
the  buildings,  the  grounds,  the  sculpture,  or  the  color. 

This  is  the  achievement  in  exposition  mak- 
ing- which  is  of  the  first  importance  in  its 
influence  on  city  making.  One  cannot,  how- 
ever, overlook  the  fact  that  the  freer  use  of 
sculpture  and  fountains  in  our  American  cities, 
the  improvement  of  parks,  especially  formal 
squares  in  the  heart  of  the  cities,  and  the  great 
development  of  mural  decoration,  in  the  last 
decade,  received  a  marvelous  impetus  from  the 
successful  treatment  of  all  these  arts  in  the 
White  City. 

If  the  World's  Fair  of  1893  taught  unity, 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  71 

the  Pan-American  Exposition  at  Buffalo  in 
1901  exemplified  the  possibility  of  variety  in 
unity.  Not  only  was  there  greater  individual- 
ity and  picturesqueness  in  the  architecture,  but 
there  were  added  to  the  scheme  the  forces  of 
color  and  light,  partly  to  differentiate  it  from 
the  Columbian  Exposition,  and  partly  to  carry 
out  the  idea  which  was  also  expressed  in  the 
sculptural  decorations  —  all  indicating,  at  once, 
the  local  significance  of  Buffalo  and  the  co- 
operation of  the  Pan-American  nations.  Never 
before  in  the  history  of  the  arts  in  America  has 
there  been  such  a  free  use  of  symbolism.  In  all 
of  these  distinctive  features  of  the  Buffalo 
Exposition,  it  will  be  seen  that  while  the  influ- 
ence of  Chicago  was  pronounced,  the  authori- 
ties were  unusually  successful  in  departing 
from  the  Chicago  tradition  and  contributing 
valuable  original  elements  which  may  prove 
just  as  useful  in  the  art  of  city  making  as  the 
fundamental  contribution  of  Chicago.  If  they 
did  not  quite  achieve  the  harmony  of  the 
World's  Fair,  they  at  least  avoided  the  mo- 
notony of  the  typical  city.  At  the  same  time 
they  expressed  most  happily  the  significant 
ideas  of  the  Pan-American  Exposition  —  the 
"  Summer  City,"  designed  superficially  for  the 
temporary  entertainment  of  visitors,  and  seri- 
ously to  emphasize  the  significance  of  Buffalo 


72      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

with  its  dependence  upon  the  waters  of  Lake 
Erie  and  Niagara,  but  above  all  the  value  of 
commercial  federation  of  the  nations  of  the  two 
continents. 

In  the  realization  of  these  conceptions  the 
practical  work  of  engineer,  architect,  sculptor, 
painter,  and  landscape-architect,  was  most  sig- 
nificant for  the  guidance  of  the  makers  of  cities. 
The  location  of  the  Exposition  on  the  edge  of 
the  park,  upon  a  piece  of  bare  ground,  unre- 
lieved and  unadorned,  without  help  or  hin- 
drance from  nature  except  by  the  use  of  the 
park  as  a  beautiful  approach,  suggests  the 
possibility  of  the  "  city  beautiful "  on  any  site, 
however  forbidding,  if  it  is  designed  on  a  com- 
prehensive plan.  The  board  of  eight  architects 
agreed  "  that  the  exposition  should  be  formal 
in  plan  and  picturesque  in  development,  and 
that  the  style  of  the  buildings  should  be  of  the 
Free  Renaissance;  that  apparent  roofs  with 
overhanging  eaves  should  be  used  in  preference 
to  flat  roofs  with  cornices  and  balustrades ;  that 
color  and  decorative  sculpture  should  be  intro- 
duced freely  into  the  treatment  of  the  build- 
ings, and  that  the  character  of  the  Exposition 
should  be  as  gay  and  festive  as  possible,  so  that 
it  would  be  a  holiday  affair." 

While  there  were  several  entrances  to  the 
grounds,  as  is  the  case  with  every  city,  empha- 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  73 

sis  was  laid  upon  a  chief  and  a  secondary 
entrance.  The  majority  of  visitors  by  street 
car  or  boat  reached  the  central  avenue  of  the 
Exposition  over  the  Triumphal  Bridge;  so 
that,  as  the  spectator  approached,  the  plan  de- 
veloped gradually,  until  on  reaching  the  bridge 
he  gained  a  view  of  the  complete  picture,  the 
symbolic  sculpture  in  the  foreground,  the  build- 
ings to  the  right  or  left  of  the  Esplanade,  also 
full  of  hidden  meaning,  and  the  whole  con- 
verging toward  the  Electric  Tower  at  the  apex 
of  the  composition.  No  feature  was  more  sig- 
nificant for  the  municipal  architect  or  engineer 
than  the  dominance  of  the  Exposition  grounds 
by  the  Electric  Tower,  the  result  of  a  complete 
triumph  over  natural  obstacles.  The  entrance 
to  the  grounds  was  conditioned  by  the  relation 
of  the  city  to  the  park  approach.  There  was, 
therefore,  only  one  possible  location  for  the 
crowning  feature  of  the  Exposition,  whereas  it 
was  found  from  the  survey  that  the  base  of  the 
Electric  Tower  was  two  feet  lower  than  the 
grade  level  of  the  Esplanade.  In  order  to  lead 
up  gradually  to  the  most  impressive  element  in 
the  composition,  it  was  necessary  to  fill  in  the 
grade,  to  produce  a  gradual  incline  from  the 
Esplanade  to  the  rear  of  the  tower,  giving  a 
rise  of  ten  feet  in  a  distance  of  one  thousand 
feet.     The  difficulty  of  this  was  increased  by 


74      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

the  well-known  fact  that  such  a  tower  seems 
to  depress  the  ground  on  which  it  stands.  The 
care  given  to  the  execution  of  the  general 
scheme  was  no  greater  than  that  bestowed  upon 
all  the  details;  so  that  every  element  from  the 
most  heroic  sculpture  to  the  minor  flower  beds 
proved  to  be  consistent  with  the  general 
scheme,  in  spite  of  the  greatest  variety  and 
individuality. 

The  scheme  of  sculptural  decoration  was 
not  merely  to  have  beautiful  figures  at  con- 
venient points  for  the  relief  of  monotony  or  the 
emphasis  of  bridge  approach  or  formal  garden, 
but  was  primarily  symbolic.  The  architectural 
completeness  of  the  Columbian  Exposition  was 
rivaled  in  the  complete  harmony  of  the  Pan- 
American  scheme  of  sculpture.  On  the  left  of 
the  Esplanade  were  buildings  housing  exhibits 
of  natural  resources — forestry,  mining  and 
horticulture;  on  the  other  side  government 
buildings,  suggesting  our  people  and  our  insti- 
tutions. The  farther  group  was  devoted  to 
machinery  and  transportation,  electricity, 
manufacture,  and  the  liberal  arts  —  buildings 
in  which  the  genius  of  man  found  expression 
with  the  aid  of  the  two  previous  elements, 
nature  and  the  institutions  of  the  country;  in- 
vention, industry,  and  ingenuity  were  here  the 
motives  for  the  painter  and  the  sculptor.     Be- 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  75 

yond  these  buildings  were  found  the  entrances 
to  the  Stadium  and  the  Midway  —  suggesting 
the  lighter  side  of  life  —  sports  and  amuse- 
ments. The  Electric  Tower,  with  the  display  of 
water  and  its  influences,  suggested  an  alle- 
gorical representation  of  the  "  Great  Waters." 
Second  only  in  importance  to>  the  sculptural 
decoration,  and  more  significant  to'  the  average 
visitor,  was  the  use  of  color.  Here  was 
achieved  the  great  differentiation  between  the 
Columbian  Exposition  and  the  Pan-American. 
The  style  of  architecture  being  the  Free  Renais- 
sance, gave  a  suggestion  of  gaiety  and  vivacity 
impossible  in  the  classic  lines  of  the  World's 
Fair,  and  made  easy  the  use  of  color,  which 
was  especially  consistent  with  the  recognition 
of  the  various  nations  contributing  to  the  Expo- 
sition. The  color  scheme  followed  the  general 
plan  of  treatment  observed  in  architecture  and 
sculpture,  which  began  with  the  elemental 
forces  of  nature  and  the  activities  of  primitive 
man.  At  the  entrance  to  the  grounds,  there- 
fore, primary  colors  were  used,  and  the  colors 
became  more  refined,  until  they  reached  a  cli- 
max in  the  ivory-white,  green,  and  gold  of  the 
Tower,  which  dominated  the  color  scheme  as  it 
did  the  architectural,  suggesting  the  break  of 
the  emerald-green  waters  over  the  crest  of 
Niagara  Falls. 


76      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Not  content  with  this  rare  combination  of 
architecture,  sculpture  and  color,  the  Exposi- 
tion authorities  achieved  another  great  success 
in  the  use  of  electricity.  Again  there  is  a 
suggestion  for  the  practical  work  of  the  mod- 
ern city.  The  unparalleled  beauty  of  the  Expo- 
sition illuminated  was  in  no  way  inconsistent 
with  the  successful  lighting  of  the  roadways 
for  the  sake  of  facilitating  traffic.  Although 
the  most  novel  feature  of  the  illumination  was 
the  use  of  eight-candle  power  electric  lamps, 
giving  an  unusual  diffusion  of  light,  brilliant 
but  not  dazzling,  nevertheless  the  arrangement 
of  lights  in  clusters  near  the  roadways  gave 
ample  illumination  for  practical  purposes.  By 
an  ingenious  mechanical  arrangement,  the 
lighting  was  so  manipulated  that  the  current 
was  applied  gradually;  so  that  the  process  of 
illumination  was  as  fascinating  as  the  complete 
result.  The  harmonious  use  of  water  in  the 
fountains  and  especially  in  the  Electric  Tower 
completed  this  marvelous  application  of  mod- 
ern science  to  artistic  achievement. 

There  was  nothing  at  the  Pan-American 
Exposition  comparable  to  the  majesty  of  the 
Court  of  Honor  of  the  "  White  City;"  but  for 
both  practical  and  artistic  purposes  the  Expo- 
sition at  Buffalo  had  many  unusual  excellences. 
It  was  compact,  it  possessed  a  variety  in  its 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  77 

architecture  and  sculpture  more  consistent  with 
the  diversified  elements  of  the  actual  city.  It 
employed  a  symbolism  more  refined,  while  it 
inaugurated  an  illuminating  system  more  suc- 
cessful, than  that  at  Chicago.  It  was  indi- 
vidual, picturesque,  often  even  startling.  Yet 
it  was  entirely  harmonious  and  practical.  It 
demonstrated  that  there  need  be  no  loss  of 
individuality  in  collective  activity. 

It  is  inevitable  that  comparison  should  be 
made  between  succeeding  expositions,  and  the 
task  of  each  new  group  of  exposition  makers 
is  increasingly  difficult,  if  their  aim  be  chiefly 
differentiation,  although  the  problems  are 
greatly  simplified  by  the  experiences  of  their 
predecessors.  The  eyes  of  the  country,  indeed 
of  the  world,  last  year  turned  toward  St.  Louis. 
The  area  of  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition 
was  greater  than  that  of  Chicago ;  more  money 
was  appropriated  for  it;  a  fuller  representa- 
tion of  foreign  nations  in  its  exhibits  was 
secured;  some  new  features  were  added,  such 
as  a  great  building  devoted  to  education  and 
social  economy  and  a  "Model  Street;"  the 
topography,  with  the  beautiful  background  of 
bluffs,  facilitating  the  cascades  which  gave  the 
chief  decorative  effect,  and  the  entrance 
through  the  beautiful  Forest  Park  —  all  made 
great  possibilities  for  the  St.  Louis  World's 


;8      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Fair.  To  those  who'  had  not  seen  the  exposi- 
tions at  Chicago  or  Buffalo',  the  use  of  the  topo- 
graphical advantages,  the  grouping  of  the 
buildings,  and  the  rare  municipal  exhibits, 
scattered  though  they  were,  gave  valuable  sug- 
gestions in  city  making :  but  there  was  nothing 
comparable  to  the  Court  of  Honor  at  Chicago 
or  the  Esplanade  at  Buffalo;  there  was  nothing 
unique,  like  the  harmony  of  the  buildings  at 
Chicago,  or  the  color,  light,  and  symbolism  of 
Buffalo. 

The  fan-shaped  plan  of  the  main  group 
of  buildings  gave  an  opportunity  for  curved 
streets  not  found  in  other  expositions  and 
unfortunately  absent  from  most  American 
cities.  The  focus  of  this  plan  in  the  cascades 
was  a  brilliant  success,  particularly  at  night, 
but  the  arrangement  lacked  balance.  There 
was  no  complementary  feature  opposite  the 
cascades,  where  the  grand  entrance  made  a 
glorious  lost  chance,  meanly  supplanted  by  a 
private  concession,  the  Tyrolean  Alps.  The 
intrusion  of  private  interest,  or  unwarranted 
public  influence,  was  also  apparent  where  the 
intrinsically  beautiful  Deutsches  Haus  ob- 
truded upon  the  harmony  of  the  general  archi- 
tectural plan.  Indeed,  one  found  it  easy  to 
accept  the  doubtless  unjust  insinuations  of  the 
hypercritical  that  the  influence  of  concession- 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  79 

aires  and  possible  political  preferment  played  a 
larger  part  than  patriotic  ambition.  The  loose- 
ness with  which  the  Exposition  authorities 
managed  the  affairs  is  well  illustrated  by  the 
plans  for  the  Model  City. 

The  idea  of  a  "model  city,"  proposed  by 
Mr.  Albert  Kelsey,  of  Philadelphia,  to  whom 
the  work  was  intrusted,  was  the  most  unique 
suggested  to  the  Exposition  authorities,  and 
gave  the  Fair  a  fuller  advertisement  than  any 
other  idea  advanced.  Yet  it  was  treated  with  a 
niggardliness  which  was  not  only  ungenerous 
but  stupid,  since  it  might  have  been  the  most 
instructive  feature  in  the  Exposition,  as  well  as 
a  distinctly  remunerative  one.  Certainly  its 
groupings  of  buildings  about  a  typical  city 
square,  with  the  graphic  representation  of 
methods  of  street  and  subterranean  construc- 
tion, and  the  handling  of  municipal  services, 
promised  to  guide  the  student  not  only  to  an 
appreciation  of  the  Model  City  itself,  but  of  the 
larger  exposition  in  which  the  same  principles 
were  exemplified. 

After  much  buffeting  at  the  hands  of 
Philistine  directors  and  brutal  interference 
from  the  burly  contractor  who  supervised  the 
architecture  of  the  Exposition,  Mr.  Kelsey  and 
his  associates  succeeded  in  grouping  half  a 
dozen  buildings  representing  the  contributions 


8o      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

of  as  many  cities,  along  a  "Model  Street" 
which  satisfied  so  incompletely  the  ideal  of  the 
"Model  City"  which  he  had  projected  that  it 
was  satirically  dubbed  "  the  muddled  street." 
This  might  seem  symbolic  of  American  muni- 
cipal accomplishment,  but  happily  a  little  group 
of  people  gathered  inspiration  from  their  at- 
tempted epitome  of  city  construction  and  the 
valuable  municipal  exhibits  of  Germany  and 
other  countries,  unsystematically  distributed 
throughout  the  Exposition,  to  propose  the  res- 
cue of  the  best  of  these  things  from  the  fiasco 
of  the  Model  City  for  the  establishment  of  the 
Municipal  Museum  of  Chicago,  the  most  ad- 
vanced step  thus  far  taken  in  the  graphic 
demonstration  of  the  art  of  city  making. 

It  is  entirely  possible  to  conduct  an  exposi- 
tion giving  chief  emphasis  to  the  triumphs  of 
commerce  and  industry,  as  was  amply  demon- 
strated at  Chicago  and  Buffalo,  but  when  the 
motives  are  exclusively  mercenary,  the  intel- 
lectual and  social  interests  will  either  be  tinged 
by  sordidness  or  neglected.  As  has  been  said, 
the  ideas  of  comprehensive  planning,  designing 
buildings  on  a  single  scale,  effective  grouping 
and  well-advised  street  construction  and  super- 
vision, all  proved  instructive  to  the  visitor  to 
St.  Louis  who  failed  to  see  the  Columbian  or 
Pan-American   Exposition.     The   accomplish- 


"  THE  WHITE  CITY  "  AND  AFTER  81 

ments  of  Chicago  and  Buffalo  have  been  so 
great  that  it  is  difficult  even  for  the  cupidity  of 
exposition  officials  to  cause  absolute  failure. 
Inevitably  many  able  men  are  employed  as 
architects,  sculptors,  engineers,  and  executives, 
and  each  new  exposition  contributes  to  the  edu- 
cation of  the  citizen  in  the  science  and  art  of 
city  making. 

Each  exposition  has  its  special  spectacles, 
some  transitory,  some  permanent.  Philadel- 
phia gained  an  art  gallery  and  a  horticultural 
building;  Chicago,  the  Art  Institute,  the  Co- 
lumbian Museum  and  various  minor  buildings 
of  more  than  passing  value;  Buffalo  its  his- 
torical building  and  art  gallery,  the  most 
beautiful  public  buildings  in  the  city,  and  St. 
Louis  has  been  enriched  by  notable  additions  to 
the  embellishment  and  equipment  of  the  new 
campus  of  Washington  University  and  an  art 
gallery  in  Forest  Park.  Yet  all  of  these  per- 
manent perquisities  of  the  city  are  eclipsed  by 
the  education  the  citizens  are  receiving  in  the 
art  of  city  making,  through  the  admirable  con- 
struction and  management  of  these  successive 
expositions. 

If  emphasis  has  been  laid  upon  the  mean- 
ing of  the  objective  features  of  expositions,  it  is 
not  with  the  intention  of  ignoring  the  educa- 
tional value  of  the  commercial  and  industrial 


82      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

exhibits  and  the  interchange  of  ideas  in  the 
congresses.  The  external  aspects  of  the  expo- 
sitions are,  it  is  true,  incidental,  but  so  is 
municipal  life  as  compared  with  the  industrial 
world.  It  is  the  art  of  living  after  the  means 
have  been  provided,  but  it  is  also  the  need  of 
the  moment.  In  commerce  and  industry  we 
have  triumphed.  We  enjoy  national  pros- 
perity; we  have  an  increase  of  individual 
leisure ;  we  have  a  multiplication  of  communal 
wants.  Life  is  fuller,  but  we  need  a  back- 
ground. We  are  tired  of  polluted  air  and 
water,  dirty  streets,  grimy  buildings  and  dis- 
ordered cities.  From  the  "  White  City  "  to  the 
"  Ivory  City "  the  lesson  has  been  impressed 
that  ugliness  and  inconvenience  for  the  present 
and  the  future,  will  yield  to  the  magic  power  of 
the  comprehensive  plan.  The  individual  gains 
comfort  and  the  community  beauty  by  uninter- 
rupted co-operation. 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON 

The  spectacular  attempts  to  secure  con- 
certed action  in  the  realization  of  a  common 
plan  in  city  making  are  those  of  Boston,  New 
York,  Harrisburg  and  Washington,  which  will 
be  considered  in  this  and  the  three  succeeding 
chapters. 

By  one  of  those  coincidences  which  mark 
the  crystallization  into  material  results  of  ideas 
which  have  been  in  common  circulation,  the 
Metropolitan  Park  Commission,  of  Boston, 
was  appointed  in  the  same  year  that  the 
World's  Fair  of  Chicago  was  exercising  its 
beneficent  influence  in  the  demonstration  of  the 
value  of  a  comprehensive  plan.  The  following 
year  the  Metropolitan  Transit  Commission  was 
created.  The  metropolitan  park  and  transit 
systems  represented  the  solution  of  problems 
more  complicated  in  several  respects  than  those 
solved  by  the  World's  Fair.  They  were  applied 
not  to  one  community  but  to  many,  were  ap- 
plied permanently  instead  of  temporarily,  and 
were  but  the  extension  of  a  movement  for 
municipal  co-operation  which  had  already 
taken  form  in  the  Metropolitan  Sewerage  Com- 
mission. The  sewerage  and  transit  commis- 
83 


84      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

sions  were  born  of  necessity,  but  the  park  sys- 
tem was  the  result  of  an  inspiration.  All  three, 
as  well  as  the  subsequent  Metropolitan  Water 
Commission,  mark  a  significant  step  in  advance 
in  the  recognition  of  the  value  of  holding  be- 
fore the  modern  municipality  a  great  and  even 
remote  ideal,  which  shall  serve,  however,  in  the 
guidance  of  the  municipal  authorities  in  minor 
and  immediate  details. 

The  Metropolitan  Sewerage  Commission, 
a  body  appointed  by  the  governor  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, was  a  product  of  the  peculiar  condi- 
tions of  Boston  and  its  suburbs  which  have  per- 
petuated the  independent  government  of  the 
towns  about  Boston  because  of  the  strong  local 
spirit  in  the  traditional  town  organization. 
Absorption  has  taken  place  in  the  case  of  some 
of  the  nearer  communities  which  were  neces- 
sarily and  inevitably  integral  parts  of  the  Bos- 
ton district.  But  the  outlying  towns,  separated 
by  natural  barriers,  or  strong  enough  to  be 
self-sufficient,  like  Cambridge  and  Brookline, 
have  clung  with  tenacity  and  pride  to  their 
independent  municipal  governments.  That 
they  should  feel  a  superiority  to  Boston,  based 
upon  actual  excellence  in  municipal  adminis- 
tration, makes  the  metropolitan  organization 
all  the  more  significant.    It  is  a  compromise  of 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  85 

local  and  central  governmental  authority  in  the 
interest  of  co-operation. 

The  population  of  these  towns  has  grown 
at  a  more  rapid  rate  than  that  of  Boston,  while 
the  entire  urban  community  has  increased  so 
rapidly  in  population  in  the  last  two  decades 
that  questions  of  sewage  disposal  and  water 
supply  have  grown  difficult  in  an  accelerating 
ratio.  Like  all  the  other  large  cities  of  the 
world,  Boston's  outer  zone  has  increased  at  a 
rate  far  beyond  that  of  the  old  city.  It  is  quite 
possible,  and  perhaps  desirable,  to  satisfy  the 
local  needs  of  street  paving  and  cleaning, 
schools  and  libraries,  and  to  some  extent  recre- 
ative institutions  by  local  effort,  but  the  wants 
which  are  common  to  the  district  and  are  de- 
pendent upon  topographical  and  geographical 
conditions  become  impossible  of  local  solution 
in  some  of  the  less  favorably  situated  com- 
munities. In  any  case  a  common  satisfaction 
of  the  public  needs  is  economical,  even  for  the 
more  fortunate  towns,  because  of  the  uniform 
difficulties  of  the  problems  and  the  greater 
power  derived  from  co-operation.  This  is  the 
compensation  enjoyed  by  the  great  city  of 
today  with  its  complicated  tasks  —  that  with 
the  increasing  magnitude  of  public  problems 
comes  an  added  power  of  solution,  both  pecu- 
niary and  scientific. 


86      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

It  was  appropriate,  therefore,  that  the  plans 
of  municipal  co-operation  which  have  proved 
so  successful  in  Boston  should  originate  in  the 
necessity  for  a  better  system  for  the  disposal  of 
sewage.  The  streams  which  abound  in  the 
metropolitan  district  have  both  utilitarian  and 
aesthetic  values  of  growing  importance  on  ac- 
count of  the  annual  additions  to  the  population. 
The  only  completely  successful  method  of  pro- 
tecting them  is  by  a  united  effort  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  whole  district  in  the  prevention  of 
pollution.  The  recommendation  for  a  metro- 
politan sewerage  system  came  in  1887  from 
the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health,  a  fact 
which  may  have  determined  the  character  of 
the  organization  of  this  and  subsequent  metro- 
politan commissions.  The  plan  of  creating 
state  boards,  while  it  has  been  superior  to  the 
unrelated  efforts  of  the  individual  communities, 
has  not  proved  entirely  acceptable.  The  feel- 
ing prevailing  among  these  communities,  with 
a  long  and  successful  experience  in  local  self- 
government,  tends  to  the  belief  that  frequent 
appeals  to  the  legislature  for  the  solution  of 
local  problems  is  undesirable.  But  no  ade- 
quate method  has  been  suggested  as  yet  for  the 
organization  of  independent  municipal  authori- 
ties for  the  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  the  entire 
metropolitan  district. 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  87 

The  State  Board  of  Health  reported  its 
plan  for  the  treatment  of  the  sewage  of  the 
Boston  district  in  1889,  and  the  same  year  the 
Board  of  Metropolitan  Sewerage  Commis- 
sioners was  created.  Within  the  next  ten  years 
the  main  features  of  this  great  project  were 
accomplished.  Three  related  systems  of 
sewers  for  the  collection  of  the  sewage  of  the 
district  connect  with  two  outfalls  into  the 
waters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  providing  for  the 
needs  of  twenty-two  cities  and  towns.  The 
three  systems  follow  the  valleys  of  three  rivers 
of  this  great  urban  community  —  the  Mystic 
on  the  north,  the  Neponset  on  the  south,  and 
the  chief  river  of  the  region,  the  Charles,  in  the 
intermediate  area.  The  Mystic  and  Charles 
river  systems  were  constructed  simultaneously, 
but  the  latter  was  completed  by  1891,  it  being 
only  eight  miles  in  length,  whereas  the  former, 
known  as  the  North  Metropolitan  System,  em- 
bracing all  of  the  territory  north  of  the  Charles 
River  and  having  a  total  length  of  nearly  fifty 
miles,  requiring  the  operation  of  four  pumping 
plants,  was  not  completed  until  1896.  In  that 
year  the  construction  of  the  Neponset  Valley 
system  was  begun,  which  was  put  in  operation 
over  its  total  length  of  eleven  miles  in  1898. 
The  total  cost  of  these  great  public  improve- 
ments,   including   the    surmounting   of    many 


88      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

engineering  and  legal  difficulties  in  the  thickly 
settled  districts,  was  less  than  $7,000,000. 
When  it  is  remembered  that  provision  is  thus 
made  not  only  for  the  population  of  one  mil- 
lion included  in  the  towns  of  metropolitan 
Boston,  but  that  connections  can  easily  be  made 
for  the  increasing  population  of  subsequent 
years,  and  that  the  area  is  as  great  as  that  of 
the  city  of  Chicago,  this  expenditure  seems 
small  for  an  adequate  system  of  sewage  dis- 
posal, in  comparison  with  the  forty  millions 
Chicago  has  put  into  its  drainage  canal,  with 
millions  yet  to  be  added  before  the  problem 
will  be  solved  as  successfully  as  it  is  done  in 
Boston. 

The  idea  of  a  comprehensive  treatment  of 
the  problems  of  an  urban  district  continued  to 
grow  in  favor  with  the  population  of  the  met- 
ropolitan area  until  it  took  form  in  the  appoint- 
ment  of   the    Rapid   Transit    Commission    in 

1 89 1,  the  Metropolitan   Park  Commission   in 

1892,  and  the  Metropolitan  Water  Commission 
in  1895.  The  first  commissions  dealing  with 
the  questions  of  parks  and  rapid  transit  were 
purely  for  purposes  of  investigation,  the  com- 
missions having  the  authority  for  the  execution 
of  these  plans  being  appointed  in  1893  and 
1894  respectively.  The  investigations  of  the 
Rapid  Transit  Commission  not  only  resulted 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  89 

in  the  co-ordination  of  all  the  transportation 
facilities  of  Boston  and  suburbs,  but  revealed 
the  conditions  of  the  population  and  the  char- 
acter of  the  topography  which  was  of  inesti- 
mable value  in  dealing  with  the  subsequent 
metropolitan  problems.  The  inquiries  of  the 
commission  covered  the  growth  of  the  urban 
population  in  the  past  and  its  probable  growth 
in  the  future,  the  harbor  facilities,  railway  ter- 
minals, surface,  underground  and  overhead 
rapid  transit.  The  report  was  a  model  of  scien- 
tific vision  and  accuracy,  and  naturally  sug- 
gested that  with  a  solution  of  the  transportation 
problems  the  meeting  of  other  communal  wants 
would  be  made  easier.  The  congestion  which 
was  revealed  in  the  surface  cars  of  Tremont 
street  and  the  lack  of  co-ordination  of  the 
steam  and  electric  lines  bore  testimony  to  the 
fact  that  the  population  was  outgrowing  the 
facilities  for  living. 

The  Rapid  Transit  Commission  performed 
not  only  an  economic  but  a  sociological  func- 
tion. It  convinced  the  dreamers  as  well  as  the 
practical  men  that  the  life  of  Boston  was 
metropolitan.  It  had  come  to  be  a  fact  of 
seemingly  prophetic  significance  that  Boston's 
traffic  doubled  every  decade.  The  steam  rail- 
ways had  reached  the  limit  of  capacity  in 
suburban  service,  and  while  the  electric  lines 


90      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

were  extended  into  the  outlying  districts  their 
increasing  patronage  only  served  to  intensify 
the  congestion  in  the  narrow,  tortuous 
thoroughfares  of  Boston.  Rapid  transit  was 
a  misnomer  when  the  multitudes  brought  within 
the  city  limits  by  improved  steam  and  electric 
facilities  found  these  same  facilities  defeating' 
their  own  ends  by  unsatisfactory  termini.  The 
Transit  Commission  provided  for  the  co- 
ordination of  the  steam  railways  into  two  ter- 
minals, connected  with  each  other  and  with  the 
business  district  by  improved  surface  lines  and 
an  elevated  road.  To  aid  these  connections  and 
at  the  same  time  unify  the  trolley  lines  from 
all  parts  of  the  metropolitan  district,  while 
relieving  rather  than  adding  to  the  congestion 
of  the  downtown  streets,  the  municipal  subway 
was  devised.  Not  only  was  this  the  first 
American  attempt  at  underground  urban  trans- 
portation, but  it  was  unlike  any  of  the  Euro- 
pean subways  in  that  its  aim  was  not  to'  provide 
rapid  transit  by  tunnel  but  to  focus  the  exist- 
ing surface  lines  in  the  business  area,  besides 
relieving  from  street  railway  tracks  the  chief 
business  thoroughfare,  Tremont  Street.  The 
original  subway  was  only  a  mile  and  a  half  in 
extent,  but  it  served,  within  one  year  of  its 
opening,  the  needs  of  one  out  of  four  of  the 
patrons  of  the  electric  railways. 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  91 

When  the  elevated  railway  was  added  to 
the  equipment  of  Boston's  transit  system  the 
subway  became  severely  taxed.  Meanwhile 
there  had  been  such  an  increase  of  traffic  that, 
to  relieve  the  congestion  of  Washington  Street, 
the  railway  company  which  leased  the  subway 
from  the  city  proposed  that  tracks  be  again 
laid  in  Tremont  Street  and  that  it  be  given  per- 
mission to  build  another  subway.  Happily  the 
education  of  the  citizens  by  experience  had 
proceeded  so  far  that,  in  spite  of  the  under- 
handed methods  of  the  West  End  Railway 
Company,  the  public  insisted  that  municipal 
ownership  which  had  proved  so  successful  in 
the  first  subway  be  applied  to  the  second,  and 
that  the  beauty  of  Tremont  Street  be  undis- 
turbed. 

With  the  addition  of  the  new  subway  and 
the  East  Boston  tunnel,  now  in  operation,  fur- 
ther steps  have  been  taken  in  the  solution  of  the 
traction  problem  in  Boston,  but  the  task  is 
never-ending.  The  growth  of  population  in- 
evitably keeps  ahead  of  the  provisions  for 
transportation.  Nevertheless,  Boston  has  es- 
tablished some  principles  of  great  value  to 
other  communities :  the  municipal  ownership 
of  subways,  the  removal  of  street-car  tracks 
from  the  main  business  streets,  the  substitution 
of  through  trolley  routes  from  every  portion  of 


92      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

the  city  to  every  other  for  the  antiquated 
method  of  downtown  terminals,  and  the  co- 
ordination of  the  chief  lines  by  a  system  of 
universal  transfers. 

The  forces  which  made  possible  the  metro- 
politan park  system  of  Boston  were  the  success 
of  the  activities  of  the  Metropolitan  Sewerage 
Commission,  the  establishment  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Trustees  of  Public  Reservations,  the 
revelations  of  the  census  of  1900  and  statistics 
of  the  Rapid  Transit  Commission,  the  growing 
sense  of  unity  due  to  the  subordination  of  local 
differences  for  the  sake  of  metropolitan  advan- 
tages, and  the  vision  of  Sylvester  Baxter  and 
Charles  Eliot.  It  is  not  often  that  such  a  suc- 
cessful administrative  plan  can  be  applied  to 
material  conditions  so  promising,  under  the 
guidance  of  a  municipal  statesman  as  far- 
seeing  as  Baxter  and  a  technical  expert  with 
the  combination  of  practical  and  imaginative 
qualities  possessed  by  Charles  Eliot.  The  plan 
of  organization  had  been  perfected,  the  men  to 
execute  it  were  available,  and  the  topography 
was  ideal  in  its  possibilities.  The  conditions 
were  made  still  more  auspicious  by  the  fact  that 
the  metropolitan  organization  of  sewage  dis- 
posal, rapid  transit  and  water  supply  directly 
facilitated  die  work  of  park  extension.  Some 
of  the  most  notable  areas  to  be  reserved  were 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  93 

those  bordering  on  streams  that  it  was  to  the 
interest  of  the  water  commission  to  preserve, 
and  in  the  preservation  of  which  they  were 
aided  by  the  sewerage  commission.  At  the 
same  time  the  distribution  of  the  population  by 
the  activity  of  the  transit  commission  made  a 
larger  area  available. 

The  United  States  census  of  1880  was  able 
to  credit  Boston  with  but  106  acres  of  park 
space  for  a  population  of  363,000,  or  one  acre 
for  each  3,424  inhabitants.  Metropolitan  Bos- 
ton today,  with  a  population  of  a  million,  re- 
joices in  the  most  extensive  park  system  in  the 
country,  including  not  fewer  than  17,000  acres, 
twice  as  many  as  New  York  with  a  larger  area 
and  over  three  times  as  many  inhabitants,  and 
five  times  as  great  a  park  acreage  as  Chicago, 
with  a  similar  area  and  twice  as  many  inhabi- 
tants. Chicago's  ratio  of  population  to  park 
acreage  has  increased  from  281  in  1880  to  571 
in  1903,  Boston  has  reduced  the  number  of 
people  to  each  acre  from  3,424  in  1880  to  58. 

This  greatest  of  municipal  accomplish- 
ments of  the  decade  is  largely  due  to  the  imag- 
ination, the  enthusiasm,  and  the  persistence 
of  one  man,  Charles  Eliot,  in  suggesting  the 
organization  of  the  Trustees  of  Public  Reser- 
vations. He  wrote  a  letter  to  Garden  and 
Forest  (February  22,  1890),  in  which  he  said: 


94      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Within  ten  miles  of  the  State  House  there  still 
remain  several  bits  of  scenery  which  possess  uncommon 

beauty   and   more   than    usual    refreshing   power 

The  end  to  be  held  in  view  in  securing  reservations  of 
this  class  is  wholly  different  from  that  which  should 
guide  the  state  commission  already  suggested,  and  the 
writer  believes  this  different  end  might  better  be  attained 
by  an  incorporated  association,  composed  of  citizens  of 
all  the  Boston  towns,  and  empowered  by  the  state  to 
hold  small  and  well  distributed  parcels  of  land  free  of 
taxes,  just  as  the  public  library  holds  books,  and  the  art 
museum  pictures  for  the  use  and  the  enjoyment  of  the 
public 

With  amazing  rapidity  the  idea  grew  in 
popular  favor,  the  legislature  authorized  the 
preliminary  investigation  commission,  the  sur- 
veys were  completed,  the  lands  acquired,  and, 
within  a  decade,  not  only  the  broad  plans  but 
the  chief  details  had  been  more  than  realized. 
On  October  6,  1892,  Charles  Eliot  wrote: 

As  I  conceive  it  the  scientific  "  park  system  "  for  a 
district  such  as  ours  would  include  (1)  spaces  on  the 
ocean  front,  (2)  as  much  as  possible  of  the  shores  and 
islands  of  the  bay,  (3)  the  courses  of  the  larger  tidal 
estuaries,  ....  (4)  two  or  three  larger  areas  of  wild 
forest  on  the  outer  rim  of  the  inhabited  area,  (5)  numer- 
ous small  squares,  play-grounds,  and  parks  in  the  midst 
of  the  dense  populations. 

To  the  general  principles  thus  laid  down, 
Charles  Eliot  added  specific  suggestions,  as 
landscape  architect  of  the  Metropolitan  Park 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  95 

Commission.  His  proposals  included  the  ac- 
quisition of  five  miles  of  ocean  frontage,  both 
banks  of  the  Neponset,  Charles,  and  Mystic 
Rivers  within  the  district  (as  far  as  they  had 
not  already  been  appropriated  for  commercial 
purposes),  the  Middlesex  Fells  on  the  north, 
Stony  Brook  Reservation  on  the  west,  and  the 
Blue  Hills  on  the  south.  These,  together  with 
the  connecting  boulevards  and  the  Lynn 
Woods  on  the  north,  the  property  of  the  city  of 
Lynn,  would  make  a  girdle  of  parks  and  park- 
ways about  Boston.  Within  seven  years,  by 
the  expenditure  of  ten  million  dollars,  these 
areas,  to  the  extent  of  10,000  acres,  had  all 
been  added  to  the  pleasure  grounds  of  the 
Boston  metropolitan  district.  They  include, 
in  the  river  reservations,  the  most  extensive 
inland  boating  privileges  enjoyed  by  any 
American  community;  in  the  5,000  acres  of 
the  Blue  Hills,  the  highest  point  of  land  within 
view  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  from  Maine  to 
Florida,  and  the  largest  municipal  pleasure 
ground  in  America;  and  in  Revere  Beach,  the 
greatest  public  bathing  facilities  in  the  United 
States. 

These  metropolitan  parks  have  not  pre- 
cluded the  establishment  of  parks  and  play- 
grounds by  the  local  communities.  Boston 
possesses   the   athletic   fields,   beautiful   drives 


96      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

and  sylvan  retreats  of  Franklin  Park,  and  the 
playgrounds  of  Copps  Hill,  Wood  Island,  and 
the  Charlesbank,  as  well  as  the  historic  Com- 
mon and  Public  Garden,  the  most  centrally 
located  of  American  open  spaces.  Cambridge 
has  undertaken  extensive  river  front  improve- 
ments; Lynn  continues  to  enlarge  its  woods; 
and  other  suburbs  testify  by  local  expenditures 
that  their  treasuries  and  enthusiasm  are  not 
exhausted  by  the  labors  of  the  Metropolitan 
Park  Commission. 

The  provision  of  a  metropolitan  water 
supply  was  no  less  significant  than  the  other 
co-operative  accomplishments  of  the  Boston 
district.  Its  importance  was  twofold;  it  gave 
further  illustration  of  the  possibility  of  realiz- 
ing a  comprehensive  plan,  and  it  facilitated  the 
work  of  the  other  commissions.  According  to 
the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Health : 

The  average  daily  consumption  of  water  in  the 
metropolitan  district  for  the  year  1894  was  79,045,000 
gallons,  the  average  daily  capacity  of  the  sources  now  in 
existence  for  the  supply  of  the  district  is  only  83,700,000 
gallons ;  that  is  to  say  the  average  supply  is  only  4,655,- 
000  in  excess  of  the  actual  needs. 

The  supply  was  not  only  near  exhaustion, 
but  the  population  was  rapidly  growing.  It 
was  necessary  for  the  authorities  to  anticipate 
not  only  the  growth  of  those  cities  which  found 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  97 

it  immediately  convenient  to  co-operate  with 
the  commission,  but  also  the  needs  of  Cam- 
bridge, Brookline,  and  some  minor  cities  which 
felt  satisfied  with  their  local  supplies,  but  which 
would  inevitably  find  advantage  in  drawing 
from  the  metropolitan  sources.  It  was  neces- 
sary, therefore,  to  secure  a  water-shed  which 
would  supply  the  needs  of  a  population  of  from 
one  to  two  millions  for  a  decade  or  two,  with 
a  possibility  of  extending  the  facilities  as  the 
needs  became  greater.  Looking  far  into  the 
future  and  considering  the  desirability  of  se- 
curing uncontaminated  sources  of  supply,  re- 
moving the  necessity  of  filtration,  the  board  of 
health  recommended  the  extension  of  the 
Nashua,  Sudbury,  and  Cochituate  systems  by 
the  construction  of  a  great  reservoir  having  a 
capacity  of  63,000,000,000  gallons,  which 
would  make  a  total  supply  of  173,000,000 
gallons  a  day,  and  thus  double  the  capacity  of 
the  existing  sources  in  the  metropolitan  district. 
The  Board  of  Health  has  so  well  anticipated 
the  needs  of  the  district  and  the  character  of 
the  supply  that  even  those  towns  which  had 
been  quite  content  with  their  local  systems  are 
uniting  with  the  metropolitan  district.  Thus 
the  Massachusetts  metropolis  secures  not  only 
an  admirable  supply  of  water  in  sufficient 
quantities  for  the  needs  of  its  growing  popula- 


98      A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

tion  for  many  years  to  come,  but  in  the  protec- 
tion of  the  contributing  streams  provides  for 
the  enjoyment  of  the  population  some  of  the 
most  beautiful  watercourses  in  the  country. 

One  has  not  exhausted  the  accomplish- 
ments of  metropolitan  Boston  in  speaking  of 
those  services  which  are  performed  co- 
operatively for  the  benefit  of  the  entire  district. 
The  people  of  the  metropolitan  area  share  the 
benefits  which  come  from  an  enlightened  public 
spirit,  making  a  comparison  of  public  institu- 
tions easy  and  facilitating  the  borrowing  of 
ideas.  Thus  the  excellent  school  system  of 
Brookline  exerts  a  beneficial  influence  on  the 
schools  of  Boston,  which  have  also  profited  by 
the  initiative  taken  by  Brookline  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  children's  playgrounds  in  1872, 
and  a  public  bath-house  in  1895.  The  first 
proposal  for  a  vacation  school  was  at  Cam- 
bridge in  1872.  In  the  words  of  the  report  of 
the  Board  of  Education : 

For  two  months  in  the  summer  the  schools  are 
closed ;  the  children  who  are  taken  into  the  country 
profit  by  the  vacation,  but  it  is  a  time  of  idleness,  even 
of  crime,  with  many  who  are  left  to  roam  the  streets. 
Our  system  seems  to  need  vacation  schools  in  which 
the  hours  and  method  of  study  should  be  adapted  to  the 
season. 

The   first    vacation    school    in    Massachusetts 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  99 

and  the  second  in  the  United  States  was  estab- 
lished in  Newton  in  1888,  and  again  Cam- 
bridge contributed  to  the  progressive  affairs  of 
the  metropolitan  area,  when,  in  1900,  there  was 
secured  from  the  city  council  an  appropriation 
of  two  thousand  dollars  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  vacation  schools.  Boston  has  profited 
by  these  experiences  and  now  provides  a  mu- 
nicipal subsidy  for  vacation  schools.  In  the 
architecture  and  decoration  of  public-school 
buildings,  and  in  the  treatment  of  their  grounds, 
Boston  has  also  been  the  beneficiary  of  the 
suburban  districts.  All  of  these,  as  well  as 
many  other  forces,  have  found  subsequent  ex- 
pression in  Boston,  where  they  are  enjoyed  not 
only  by  the  local  inhabitants  but  are  available 
for  the  suburbanites  as  well. 

Boston  now  has  under  the  supervision  of  its 
unique  Bath  Department  public  baths  and  gym- 
nasiums, including  the  most  extensive  summer 
provision  of  any  city  in  the  country.  In  the 
report  for  1901-2  the  bath  trustees  say: 

The  Institutions  Registration  Department  of  the 
city  has  shown  that,  during  the  past  ten  years,  there  has 
been  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  juvenile  arrests  of 
from  12  to  20  per  cent.  The  report  ascribes  this  marked 
change  in  a  considerable  degree  to  the  manifold  efforts 
which  are  made  throughout  the  city  to  turn  youthful 
energy  and  spirits  into  healthful  channels.  It  cannot  be 
doubted  that  the  most  important  agency  in  this  direction 
is  the  work  done  by  this  department  through  the  various 


ioo     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

bathing  beaches,  floating  baths,  play  grounds,  the  Dover 
Street  bath-house,  open  for  use  all  the  year  round,  and 
the  gymnasia  with  their  systematic  class  work  lasting 
throughout  the  winter  season. 

The  equipment  of  the  Bath  Department  in- 
cludes three  great  bathing  beaches,  that  at  L 
Street  stretching  for  900  feet  along  the  beach 
and  containing  a  thousand  dressing-rooms, 
with  three  separate  divisions,  one  for  women 
and  girls,  one  for  men,  and  one  for  boys,  open 
day  and  night  every  day  in  the  year.  This 
bath  is  not  only  unique  in  providing  facilities 
every  hour  in  the  year,  but  it  has  the  distinc- 
tion of  being  the  first  of  America's  public 
bathing  beaches,  having  been  opened  in  1866. 
In  addition  to  these  beaches  there  are  fourteen 
pools  and  floating  baths  and  five  gymnasia, 
provided  with  winter  bathing  facilities,  besides 
the  large  Dover  Street  bath-house.  The 
patronage  of  all  these  institutions  reaches  a 
total  of  over  two  and  a  half  million  men,  women 
and  children. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  a  community  which 
has  solved  so  many  local  problems  well  should 
have  been  a  pioneer  in  other  directions  in  the 
extension  of  public  advantages.  The  citizens 
of  Boston  enjoy  an  exceptionally  well-adminis- 
tered system  of  compulsory  education,  includ- 
ing excellent  parental  schools.  While  the 
methods  of  teaching  still  suffer  from  the  in- 


METROPOLITAN  BOSTON  101 

cubus  of  New  England  tradition  the  equipment 
of  schools  compares  favorably  with  the  best 
schools  elsewhere.  Several  schoolhouses  are 
now  provided  with  gymnasia  and  bathing 
facilities;  the  decoration  of  the  buildings  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  grounds  receive  increas- 
ing attention;  playgrounds  are  in  general  use; 
and  the  number  of  school  gardens  has  grown 
to  twenty. 

It  will  not  be  forgotten  that  Boston  pos- 
sesses the  chief  American  municipal  library, 
nor  that  the  magnificent  building  which  houses 
this  extensive  collection  of  books  is  decorated 
with  the  best  specimens  of  mural  painting  we 
possess.  The  treatment  of  Copley  Square,  on 
which  the  library  faces,  is  the  best  evidence  of 
the  quality  of  that  public  life  which  has  given 
Boston  the  most  democratic  administration  of 
the  larger  American  cities.  It  is  a  centrally 
located,  triangular  square,  bounded  by  three  of 
the  chief  thoroughfares,  and  faced  by  the  public 
library,  the  New  Old  South  Church,  Richard- 
son's masterpiece,  Trinity  Church,  the  art  gal- 
lery, and  a  number  of  dignified  private  struc- 
tures. One  of  the  last,  an  apartment  house, 
was  constructed  in  violation  of  the  sky-line 
established  for  Copley  Square,  and  while  tedi- 
ous litigation  was  necessary  for  the  protection 
of  the  aesthetic   standards  established  by  the 


102     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Boston   authorities,   the  public   interests  have 
finally  triumphed. 

It  was  no  mere  quibble  which  led  to  the 
prosecution  of  a  landlord,  who  by  virtue  of  a 
doubtful  public  document,  undertook  to  carry 
out  the  caprice  of  erecting  a  building  which 
should  by  a  few  feet  of  elevation  do  violence  to 
good  taste  and  the  public  will.  It  was  stern 
insistence  on  the  superior  importance  of  the 
public  good  and  merited  rebuke  of  the  typical 
impertinence  of  private  interests.  It  was  the 
same  spirit  which  asserted  by  peaceful  legal 
methods  that  the  function  of  the  railways  was 
to  serve  the  traveling  public,  and  that  the  inter- 
ests of  the  community  demanded  the  municipal 
ownership  of  the  subway;  the  spirit  which 
ignored  the  town  boundaries  and  local  jeal- 
ousies and  provided  water  and  sewerage  sys- 
tems which  would  satisfy  the  needs  of  the 
metropolitan  district;  the  spirit  which  inter- 
rupted the  private  vandalism  that  was  desecrat- 
ing Boston's  natural  environment  and  conse- 
crated for  all  time  great  areas  of  natural  beauty 
for  the  promotion  of  life  and  happiness ;  it  was 
the  spirit  which  preserved  the  democracy  of  the 
old  town  meeting  while  it  developed  the  latent 
power  of  co-operation  in  the  modern  metrop- 
olis. This  civic  spirit  has  made  metropolitan 
Boston  the  most  progressive  of  the  greater 
American  communities. 


GREATER  NEW  YORK 

"  Splendid  isolation,"  a  phrase  which  has 
been  used  to  characterize  Great  Britain,  is 
descriptive  of  old  New  York  City.  It  is  as  true 
of  the  civic  and  social  life  of  the  metropolis  as 
it  is  of  the  topography  of  Manhattan  Island. 
The  waterways  which  have  made  New  York 
the  commercial  center  of  the  country  have  also 
caused  it  to  be  the  most  congested  city  in  the 
world.  The  self-satisfied  pre-eminence,  due  to 
its  metropolitan  character,  has  also  produced 
the  provincialism  of  New  York.  If  it  has 
grown  rich  because  the  world  has  thrust  upon 
it  the  bulk  of  American  commerce,  it  has  grown 
great  in  ignorance  and  disdain  of  the  world. 

Greater  New  York  is  doubtless  due  in  part 
to  the  rivalry  in  growth  of  population  of  Chi- 
cago, but  the  greatness  of  Greater  New  York 
has  been  attained  without  the  assistance  of  the 
example  of  other  American  cities,  and  indeed 
in  spite  of  overlooking  their  experience.  The 
achievements  of  the  American  metropolis, 
whose  name  is  legion,  are  the  results  of 
methods  which  would  have  crippled  or  bank- 
rupted any  other  American  city  —  a  charter  the 
most  cumbersome  and  ridiculous  in  the  United 
103 


104     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

States;  the  repeated  domination  of  Tammany, 
reversing-  for  a  time  all  the  progressive  cur- 
rents of  the  community,  and  a  budget  larger 
than  that  of  London  or  Paris.  The  experience 
of  New  York  is  the  greatest  refutation  of  the 
fallacy  that  expenditure  through  taxation  is 
only  depriving  the  citizens  of  the  benefits  of 
private  expenditure.  Each  succeeding  admin- 
istration in  New  York  has  left  the  city  with 
assets  in  the  form  of  public  improvements 
which  citizens  in  their  private  capacity  could 
never  have  secured,  and  which  in  spite  of  reck- 
less and  unpardonable  extravagance  are  the 
mile-stones  of  municipal  progress.  New  York 
has  long  been  the  Mecca  of  the  pleasure-seeker. 
It  has  also,  through  the  machinations  of  Tam- 
many, served  as  a  warning  to  other  munici- 
palities. It  must  now  be  visited  by  the  pro- 
gressive citizen  who  would  see,  in  spite  of 
methods  which  are  to  be  condemned,  that  New 
York  is  one  of  America's  most  progressive 
municipalities. 

The  crucial  problem  of  New  York  is  trans- 
portation. The  topography  of  Manhattan 
Island  makes  an  initial  and  almost  insurmount- 
able difficulty.  The  transportation  from  the 
city  to  the  residence  districts  was  of  necessity 
chiefly  in  one  direction  until  methods  superior 
to  those  of  the  ferry-boat  and  the  bridge  were 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  105 

devised.  This  difficulty  was  intensified  by  the 
fact  that  New  York  is  a  commercial  center  and 
the  people  are  seeking  a  single  business  district, 
instead  of  finding  their  way  to  factories  in  all 
directions,  as  is  the  case  in  the  industrial  city. 
Further  difficulties  were  added  by  the  cor- 
rupt methods  of  granting  franchises  to  indi- 
viduals who  had  no  purpose  of  improving  the 
transportation  service,  but  were  gambling  on 
the  necessities  of  the  population.  The  final 
obstacle  in  the  way  of  rapid  transit  has  come 
from  the  fact  that  there  is  a  greater  travel  per 
capita  in  New  York  than  in  any  other  city  of 
the  world.  Each  year  the  surface  and  elevated 
railways  of  Greater  New  York  carry  more 
people  than  all  the  steam  railroads  of  North 
and  South  America.  The  number  of  rides  per 
capita  has  grown  from  47  in  i860,  1 18  in  1870, 
182  in  1880,  283  in  1890  to  388  in  1900.  The 
transportation  difficulties  are  greater  than  in 
any  other  city,  but  the  receipts  are  larger.  Chi- 
cago has  518  miles  of  track,  as  compared  with 
300  in  Manhattan,  but  the  receipts  per  mile  of 
track  in  Chicago  are  only  $25,784,  as  compared 
with  $65,983  in  Manhattan.  In  spite  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  problems  and  the  fact  that 
many  of  them  fail  of  solution,  there  is  the 
wealth  with  which  they  may  be  solved  when 
the  right  methods  are  applied. 


106     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Since  the  construction  of  the  elevated  rail- 
ways in  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn  and  the  East 
River  Bridge,   there  had  been   no  significant 
addition  to  New  York's  transportation  facili- 
ties in  a  quarter-century.    There  have  been  im- 
proved methods,   such   as  the  substitution  of 
electricity  for  steam  on  the  elevated  railways, 
the  substitution  of  electricity  for  horses  on  the 
street    railways,    and   the   double   deck    ferry- 
boats of  the  Pennsylvania  Company,  but  the 
addition  of  actually  new  transportation  services 
is  a  twentieth-century  accomplishment.     How 
desperately  New  York  needs  these  things  may 
be  seen  by  passing  from  the  crowded  East  Side 
tenement  district  over  the  East  River  to  the 
ample  fields  of  Long  Island,  or  by  contrasting 
with  the  insufficient  and  inadequate  horse-cars 
of  lower  Manhattan  the  plans  for  new  East 
and  North  River  bridges,  subway  tunnels  to 
Brooklyn  and  Staten  Island,  and  the  great  ter- 
minal facilities  projected  by  the  Pennsylvania 
Railway  in  the  heart  of  Manhattan.    The  need 
of  bridges  and  tunnels  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
540,000   people    reach    Manhattan    Island    by 
ferry  every  day,  while  the  inadequacy  of  the 
original  Brooklyn  bridge  is  evidenced  by  its 
150,000   patrons,    each    way   daily,    compared 
with  the  142,000  who  travel  northward  by  the 
surface  and  elevated  lines  of  Manhattan  at  one 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  107 

hour  in  the  evening,  as  estimated  by  Mr.  W.  W. 
Wheatley. 

New  York  has  been  very  slow  in  recog- 
nizing the  need  of  introducing  entirely  new 
transportation  methods,  and  has  been  retarded 
by  being  oblivious  to  the  progress  of  other 
cities,  but,  as  is  repeatedly  the  case,  it  is  now 
about  to  grapple  with  the  problem  more  vigor- 
ously than  has  been  done  elsewhere.  It  took 
ten  years  to  persuade  New  York  capitalists  to 
embark  in  the  elevated  railway  enterprises, 
which  have  proved  so  fabulously  remunerative ; 
it  took  twenty  years  to  persuade  the  authorities 
to  begin  the  construction  of  a  second  Brooklyn 
bridge ;  it  required  seven  or  eight  years  to  con- 
vince unprogressive  elevated  railway  executives 
that  electricity  was  superior  to  steam.  Yet 
Manhattan  Island  has  a  peer  only  in  Washing- 
ton in  the  use  of  the  underground  electric  con- 
duit in  place  of  the  overhead  trolley,  and  the 
addition  to  the  transportation  services  in  the 
next  ten  years  will  be  nothing  short  of  marvel- 
ous. The  new  East  River  bridge  adds  eight 
tracks  to  the  four  on  the  present  bridge,  the 
third  and  fourth  East  River  bridges  will  con- 
tribute twelve  new  tracks,  the  municipal  rapid 
transit  tunnel  is  to  contain  two  tracks,  and  the 
Pennsylvania-Long  Island  Railway  tunnel 
under  the  East  River  four  tracks,  making  a 


108     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

total  of  twenty-six  new  tracks  under  or  over 
the  East  River,  while  under  the  Hudson  River 
four  tracks  will  be  provided  by  the  Pennsyl- 
vania-Long- Island  Railroad  tunnel  and  the 
New  York  and  New  Jersey  tunnel.  Thus  the 
water  boundaries  of  Manhattan  will  be  tem- 
porarily obliterated.  Before  even  the  con- 
summation of  these  plans  the  new  subway  has 
provided  underground  communication  to  Har- 
lem, the  beginning  of  a  very  elaborate  system 
of  subways  enlarging  New  York's  means  of 
transportation  so  that  now  the  population  is 
carried  at  three  levels,  under  and  above  the 
surface  as  well  as  on  it. 

These  great  extensions,  which  for  the  first 
time  give  promise  of  relieving  the  frightful 
congestion  of  the  tenement-house  districts,  are 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  stimulus  afforded  by 
the  organization  of  Greater  New  York.  The 
old-time  inhabitant  of  Manhattan  is  still  scorn- 
ful of  the  residents  in  Brooklyn  and  the  other 
boroughs;  but  the  citizenship  of  Greater  New 
York  is  becoming  conscious  of  the  needs  and 
possibilities  of  the  larger  city.  The  administra- 
tion of  such  a  great  territory  and  so  vast  a 
population  is  exceedingly  difficult,  and  has  not 
yet  been  successfully  accomplished,  but  the  in- 
centive is  so  great  that  administrative  diffi- 
culties will  be  overcome.  While  Tammany  may 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  109 

assess  these  great  bond  issues  for  its  private 
benefit,  it  will  not  prevent  the  realization  of  the 
magnificent  plans  due  to  the  new  civic  spirit 
of  Greater  New  York. 

If  the  commercial  capital  of  the  country- 
has  surrendered  its  thoroughfares  to  street  rail- 
way companies  without  regard  to  the  welfare 
of  its  inhabitants,  it  has  been  more  scrupulous 
in  the  paving  and  cleaning  of  its  streets.  New 
York  has  long  been  one  of  the  most  substan- 
tially paved  cities  in  the  country,  and  since  the 
administration  of  Mayor  Strong  the  cleanest  of 
the  larger  cities.  This  reform  mayor  of  New 
York  had  the  wisdom  to  choose  as  the  head  of 
the  street  cleaning  department  a  great  Ameri- 
can soldier,  skilled  in  military  organization, 
while  he  was  also  an  expert  sanitary  authority. 
Not  only  New  York  but  all  the  other  cities  of 
the  country  have  benefited  from  the  scientific 
services  of  Colonel  Waring.  He  substituted 
military  discipline  for  the  unregulated  and  un- 
productive efforts  of  Tammany's  dependents. 
He  introduced  better  methods  of  collecting  and 
disposing  of  the  city's  wastes.  He  infused  a 
new  spirit  into  the  men  and  changed  the  pub- 
lic's attitude  toward  them  by  the  inspiration  of 
improved  processes  and  better  results,  not  the 
least  significant  device  being  the  spectacular 
one  of  putting  the  street-cleaning  force  into 


no     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

white  duck  uniforms.  Whenever  the  white 
duck  suit  is  seen  in  a  city  street  today  it  is  the 
symbol  not  only  of  municipal  cleanliness  but 
also  of  that  city's  obligations  to  the  pioneer 
work  of  New  York. 

The  prerequisite  of  clean  streets  is  good 
paving,  and  this  New  York  possesses.  The 
cobblestones  which  once  disgraced  it  are  gradu- 
ally being  removed.  It  has  more  asphalt  and 
more  granite  block  than  any  other  American 
city,  and  has  them  judiciously  distributed.  The 
great  thoroughfares  are  well  paved,  but  so  are 
many  miles  of  streets  in  the  tenement  districts, 
contributing  not  a  little  to  the  health  and  happi- 
ness of  the  slums.  Manhattan  is  better  cared  for 
than  the  outlying  boroughs,  partly  on  account 
of  tradition  and  partly  because  of  the  borough 
organization,  which  tends  to  restrict  the  diffu- 
sion of  municipal  benefits.  Nevertheless  the 
cleaning  of  the  improved  streets  is  carried  over 
a  greater  area  than  elsewhere  in  America  and 
the  frequent  cleaning  of  the  business  streets  is 
almost  unique. 

One  of  the  fruits  of  Greater  New  York,  it 
may  be  hoped,  will  be  the  extension  to  the  other 
boroughs  of  the  wide-spread  movement  on 
Manhattan  Island  for  the  removal  of  poles  and 
wires  from  the  streets.  No  trolley  pole,  and 
scarcely  a  wire,  disfigures  Manhattan ;  the  elec- 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  in 

trie  light,  telephone  and  telegraph  wires  have 
been,  for  the  most  part,  buried  in  conduits,  and, 
in  addition  to  the  gas  and  water  pipes,  there  are 
now  subterranean  constructions  for  the  trans- 
mission of  heat  to  the  office  buildings  and  pneu- 
matic service  of  the  post-office.  With  the  addi- 
tion of  the  subways  beneath  the  streets  the  time 
cannot  be  far  distant  when  there  will  be  unifica- 
tion of  the  public  underground  utilities  with 
great  economy  in  construction  and  maintenance 
of  both  the  services  themselves  and  the  street 
paving. 

In  its  water  system  Manhattan  is  also  far 
ahead  of  the  other  boroughs.  From  the  Croton 
watershed  Manhattan  has  received  by  gravity 
a  satisfactory  supply  of  water  for  sixty  years. 
The  area  under  control  has  been  enlarged 
several  times,  a  second  aqueduct  has  been  built 
and  a  huge  dam  is  nearing  completion  which 
will  store  all  the  available  supply  of  that  region. 
Still  the  population  grows,  and  a  few  years  ago 
it  seemed  necessary  to  look  farther  afield  for 
subsequent  supplies.  The  infamous  Ramapo 
Company,  which  had  secured  from  the  legis- 
lature the  control  of  the  next  natural  sources, 
had  nearly  made  a  contract  with  corrupt  Tam- 
many officials  to  furnish  New  York  with  more 
water  than  it  needed  at  twice  the  cost  of  the 
municipal    service,     when     Comptroller     Bird 


H2     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Coler  and  the  Merchants'  Association  inter- 
rupted the  proceedings.  The  results  of  the 
agitation  of  this  vigorous  municipal  officer  and 
this  unusually  public-spirited  organization 
have  been  great  economies  in  the  distribution 
of  the  present  supply  and  extensive  plans  for 
enlarging  New  York's  water  system  so  as  to 
serve  all  of  the  boroughs  if  necessary.  The 
Merchants'  Association  set  a  noble  example  to 
organizations  of  private  citizens  elsewhere  by 
subsidizing  an  investigation  by  experts  at  a 
cost  of  $25,000.  It  found  that  nearly  half  the 
water  is  wasted,  and  with  better  connections 
and  meters  it  will  be  possible,  from  the  present 
sources,  to  satisfy  Manhattan's  needs  for  some 
years.  There  remains,  however,  the  problem 
of  Brooklyn  and  the  other  boroughs.  The 
Long  Island  areas  tapped  by  Brooklyn  are 
virtually  exhausted,  and  in  the  future  the  Cro- 
ton  system  will  have  to  be  drawn  upon.  No- 
where will  the  consolidation  of  these  munici- 
palities demonstrate  the  value  of  co-operation 
better  than  in  the  economy  and  excellence  of 
the  future  water  supply. 

In  addition  to  an  admirable  water  supply, 
New  York  enjoys  supreme  hygienic  advan- 
tages in  the  salt  waters  which  surround  it  and 
the  sea  breezes  which  refresh  it.  Nevertheless, 
the  congestion  of  population  and  the  large  per- 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  113 

centage  of  ignorant  immigrants  require  an 
exceptionally  efficient  health  department  to 
keep  the  death  rate  down.  This  Greater  New 
York  enjoyed  during  the  Low  administration. 
Under  Dr.  Lederle's  watchful  supervision  both 
the  great  and  the  minor  conditions  of  public 
health  were  made  more  favorable.  Mr.  Had- 
den  says: 

In  1901  the  number  of  vaccinations  in  the  city  were 
373,636;  in  1902  there  were  810,280.  During  the  first 
six  months  of  1903  the  cases  of  smallpox  reported  were 
44  ...  .  the  total  number  of  deaths  was  3 ;  during  1901 
the  cases  reported  were  1,964  and  the  deaths  410. 

From  the  inspection  of  milk  to  that  of 
school  children's  heads  the  activities  of  the 
department  have  been  so  energetic  that  while 
the  death  rate  has  been  reduced  to  the  lowest 
ever  known  the  unpopularity  of  the  health  offi- 
cers has  steadily  increased.  It  will  take  some 
time  to  teach  the  people  of  Greater  New  York 
that  the  publicity  given  to  vermin  is  the  same 
which  reduces  the  death  rate  from  consumption 
by  forty  per  cent. 

One  of  the  most  significant  features  of  the 
health  department  of  Greater  New  York  is  its 
successful  co-operation  with  the  other  munici- 
pal departments.  Perhaps  no  other  city  profits 
by  such  a  co-operation  of  the  work  of  police, 
street-cleaning   and   health   officials,    and   cer- 


ii4     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

tainly  no  other  enjoys,  in  addition,  the  newest 
of  New  York's  progressive  institutions,  the 
tenement-house  department.  Although  not  so 
fundamental  as  the  transportation  problem,  on 
which  it  depends,  the  housing  of  New  York's 
population  has  been  its  greatest  embarrassment 
and  failure.  In  Greater  New  York  2,273,079 
people  out  of  a  total  population  of  3,437,202 
live  in  tenements.  Some  of  the  smaller  areas 
of  Manhattan  contain  the  most  congested  spots 
on  the  planet.  The  problem  seems  almost  in- 
soluble, yet  the  results  of  tenement-house  com- 
missions, private  and  public  investigations  and 
exposures,  are  at  last  crystallized  in  a  city  de- 
partment, the  first  head  of  which  has  been  one 
of  the  chief  tenement-house  reformers,  Mr. 
Robert  W.  DeForest.  What  has  already  been 
accomplished  in  fire  protection,  sanitary  regu- 
lations, moral  control,  and,  best  of  all,  plans  for 
improved  transportation,  holds  out  the  hope 
that  vast  improvements  are  within  sight.  The 
law  has  already  been  modified  in  favor  of 
Brooklyn  landlords  and  builders,  Tammany  is 
back  in  power,  and  brothels  may  again  flourish 
in  the  tenements,  but  a  new  standard  of  health 
has  been  established,  and  those  will  fare  ill  who 
threaten  it. 

All  of  New  York's  tasks  are  of  such  great 
magnitude  that  one  may  find  both  the  best  and 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  115 

the  worst  conditions  side  by  side.  The  neglect 
of  years  cannot  be  atoned  for  in  one  adminis- 
tration. This  is  nowhere  truer  than  in  the 
public-school  system.  It  is  a  strictly  modern 
obligation  for  a  city  to  be  responsible  for  the 
education  of  over  half  a  million  children.  Only 
London  has  a  task  of  equal  magnitude.  Conse- 
quently one  finds  in  Greater  New  York  anti- 
quated, foul,  unsanitary  schoolhouses,  incom- 
petent school-teachers,  illiterate  children  and 
indifferent  citizens.  But  one  also  finds  some 
of  the  finest  school  buildings  in  the  world,  the 
best  paid  staff  of  teachers,  many  of  them  of 
high  abilities,  new  methods  and  equipment  in 
many  schools,  manual  training,  physical  cul- 
ture, kindergartens,  vacation  schools,  free  lec- 
tures, a  commercial  high  school  and  a  univer- 
sity, to  name  but  a  few  of  the  progressive 
features.  Among  the  distinctive  features  com- 
manding the  attention  of  other  communities 
are  the  universal  provisions  for  play,  required 
by  law ;  the  play-schools  in  the  summer  time 
for  which  larger  appropriations  are  made  than 
in  any  other  city;  the  commercial  high  school, 
the  third  in  order  of  establishment  and  the  most 
complete  in  the  country;  the  ungraded  classes 
for  deficient  pupils ;  the  evening  classes,  the 
recreation  centers,  the  free  lectures.  Education 
must  not  be  befogged  with  figures,  but  it  cer- 


n6    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

tainly  helps  to  state  the  problem  to  observe  that 
there  are  enrolled  in  the  New  York  schools 
nearly  six  hundred  thousand  children ;  there  is 
an  attendance  at  the  free  lectures  of  over  a 
million  adults ;  there  was  expended  by  the 
Board  of  Education  in  1903  the  sum  of  $23,- 
000,000.  The  newer  educational  methods  are 
subsidized,  a  great  educator  is  the  chief  exec- 
utive, a  minimum  salary  of  six  hundred  dol- 
lars is  established  for  primary  teachers,  but  the 
incompetent  teacher  and  the  over-crowded 
classroom  are  still  in  constant  evidence.  It  is 
not  surprising  that  New  York's  schools  are 
still  defective  and  that  some  of  the  best  features 
have  recently  been  curtailed.  Progress  is  diffi- 
cult with  alternations  of  Tammany  tyranny 
and  Reform  refinements.  Under  the  circum- 
stances the  system  is  astonishingly  good. 

The  New  York  schoolhouses  are  oi  more 
service  to  the  public  than  those  of  any  other 
city.  In  the  old  buildings  the  newer  equipment, 
such  as  laboratories,  libraries,  playrooms,  gym- 
nasiums and  auditoriums  are  improvised ; 
in  the  new  buildings  they  are  included  in  the 
architect's  plans,  but  in  all  of  the  buildings  they 
are  found.  Sometimes  a  basement  playroom 
will  be  temporarily  transformed  into  an  audi- 
torium, occasionally  a  hallway  will  be  so  used, 
sometimes  the  playground  will  be  on  the  roof, 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  117 

when  it  may  also  serve  as  a  roof-garden  on 
summer  evenings.  The  newer  buildings,  how- 
ever, make  almost  ideal  provision  for  these 
necessities  of  the  new  education.  The  audi- 
torium is  on  the  ground  floor,  with  separate 
entrances  for  use  in  the  evenings,  the  play- 
grounds are  ample  for  boys  and  girls,  the  gym- 
nasiums are  large,  airy  rooms  with  adequate 
apparatus  and  accompanying  baths,  the  sani- 
tary devices  are  scientific,  and  the  architecture 
and  decorations  artistic. 

One  has  not  exhausted  the  popular  educa- 
tional advantages  of  Greater  New  York  in 
speaking  of  the  public  schools.  The  crown  of 
the  public-school  system  is  the  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  which  makes  such  an  auspi- 
cious advance  in  its  new  location  in  Harlem 
with  its  new  and  progressive  president,  Dr. 
John  H.  Finley.  Two  other  universities  of 
note,  Columbia  and  the  University  of  New 
York,  are  making  more  popular  appeals  under 
the  stimulus  of  the  City  College.  Columbia 
contributes  to  the  common-school  system  in  its 
Horace  Mann  training  school  and  seeks  a  wider 
hearing  among  the  public  through  its  new 
university  extension  department.  The  Uni- 
versity of  New  York  teaches  practical  patriot- 
ism through  its  widely  celebrated  Hall  of 
Fame.     A  school  system  of  the  most  progress- 


nS    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

ive  kind  is  found  in  Dr.  Felix  Adler's  ethical 
schools,  providing  from  kindergarten  to  high 
school  the  most  advanced  facilities  to  be  found 
in  the  East.  Brooklyn  adds  to  the  educational 
endowment  of  the  metropolis  Pratt  Institute 
and  the  Brooklyn  Institute,  the  former  furnish- 
ing the  best  training  in  industrial  art  in  the 
country  and  the  latter  giving  an  array  of  popu- 
lar educational  attractions  to  its  patrons  in  the 
winter  which  is  scarcely  rivaled  by  the  summer 
program  of  Chautauqua.  * 

In  Cooper  Union  New  York  has  a  public 
institution  unique  in  America.  At  other  places 
there  are  thousands  of  young  people  securing 
education  at  night  in  as  many  branches  as  are 
taught  at  Cooper  Union.  At  other  places  popu- 
lar lectures  are  attended  by  great  audiences  and 
musical  and  dramatic  recitals  of  the  highest 
class  are  offered  for  small  admission  fees.  But 
nowhere  else  is  there  a  forum  where  the  public 
questions  are  discussed  as  freely,  the  verdict 
given  as  fairly,  and  the  multitudinous  voice  of 
the  people  registered  as  effectively  as  in  the 
meetings  of  the  People's  Institute  at  Cooper 
Union.  Little  wonder  is  it  then  that  Mr. 
Charles  Sprague  Smith's  plan  of  a  Hall  of  the 
People  of  great  magnitude  and  convenience 
seems  attainable.  Walter  Besant's  dream  of  a 
Palace  of  Delight,  which  was  so  inadequately 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  119 

expressed  in  the  People's  Palace  in  London, 
has  promise  of  realization  in  Greater  New 
York.  Tammany  may  spurn  the  silk-stocking 
"  Goo  goo's,"  but  as  the  great  dumb  wants  of 
the  people  are  vocalized  with  such  increasing 
effectiveness  the  thunders  of  popular  dis- 
approval may  finally  awe  the  Tiger. 

Under  the  joint  patronage  of  state  and 
municipality  there  is  growing  west  of  Central 
Park  an  enormous  many-winged  structure 
which  houses  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History.  In  addition  to  an  excellent  and 
elaborate  collection  of  specimens  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  a  great  popular  movement  for 
scientific  instruction  is  in  progress  there.  The 
state  provides  a  fund  of  $38,000  a  year  for 
illustrative  materials,  which  are  loaned  to  the 
schools  of  New  York  City  and  state.  At  the 
museum  there  are  several  auditoriums,  used 
throughout  the  year,  for  the  delivery  of  popu- 
lar science  lectures,  usually  illustrated  by  the 
stereopticon.  On  the  other  side  of  the  park  is 
the  Metropolitan  Art  Museum,  containing  the 
greatest  of  American  art  collections,  and  yet 
but  one  of  the  centers  of  art  influence  in  New 
York. 

The  latest  and  one  of  the  greatest  of  New 
York's  educational  institutions  is  the  united 
free  library.     Before  the  days  of  Greater  New 


i jo    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

York  the  metropolis  was  very  imperfectly 
equipped  with  libraries.  It  is  now  on  the  eve 
of  opening  to  its  inhabitants  the  most  extensive 
library  facilities  in  the  world.  The  great  classic 
structure  which  will  hold  the  combined  collec- 
tions of  the  Astor-Lenox-Tilden  foundations 
is  in  process  of  erection  at  Forty-second  Street 
and  Fifth  Avenue,  on  the  site  of  the  old  reser- 
voir, overlooking  Bryant  Park.  The  sixty-five 
branches  scattered  at  convenient  intervals  over 
Greater  New  York,  made  possible  by  the  $5,- 
200,000  given  by  Andrew  Carnegie,  complete 
the  equipment  of  this  enormous  enterprise 
which  is  of  course  supplemented  by  the  numer- 
ous smaller  libraries  of  the  other  educational 
institutions.  Already  nearly  two  million  books 
are  accessible  to  the  public  without  charge,  and 
the  circulation  in  the  homes  amounts  to  over 
four  million  volumes  a  year. 

New  York  is  so  huge  that  its  expressions 
of  civic  art  are  almost  necessarily  diffuse  or 
sporadic.  Some  of  its  most  beautiful  struc- 
tures, such  as  the  old  Tombs  and  the  Fifth 
Avenue  reservoir,  have  already  disappeared.  It 
still  enjoys  distinction  from  historic  buildings, 
like  the  century-old  city  hall  or  the  relics  of  the 
colonial  quadrangle  about  Washington  Square. 
But  it  has  also  notable  new  buildings  and 
monuments,  and  no  other  city  exhibits  greater 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  121 

ferment  in  municipal  art.  In  addition  to  beau- 
tiful statues  and  monuments,  too  many  of 
which  are  congested  in  Central  Park,  there  are 
the  dignified  arches  at  the  beginning  of  Fifth 
Avenue  and  the  entrance  to  Prospect  Park, 
Brooklyn,  the  appropriately  decorated  Appel- 
late Court  House,  which  contains  some  excel- 
lent mural  paintings,  the  beautiful  bridges  over 
the  Harlem  River,  and  the  chaos  of  seemly 
structures,  unfortunately  unrelated,  on  Morn- 
ingside  Heights. 

In  spite  of  the  difficulty  of  New  York's 
problems,  organizations  of  sculptors  and  archi- 
tects, national  and  local,  the  Municipal  Art 
Society,  the  National  Arts  Club,  the  Municipal 
Art  Commission  and  other  groups  are  zeal- 
ously at  work  for  the  beautification  of  the 
metropolis.  Perhaps  no  movement  is  so  far- 
reaching  in  its  possibilities  as  that  for  civic 
centers.  The  old  city  hall  is  one  of  New  York's 
architectural  treasures  overlooking  a  delightful 
open  space,  City  Hall  Park.  Plans  for  improv- 
ing the  appearance  of  this  area,  while  making 
adequate  provisions  for  the  municipal  offices 
now  largely  located  in  rented  quarters,  include 
the  removal  of  other  buildings  from  the  park 
and  the  erection  of  a  great  municipal  building, 
which  will  not  only  provide  all  the  office  room 
needed  but  rival  in  height  and  dignity  the  sur- 


122     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

rounding  sky-scrapers.  A  similar  plan  for  a 
civic  center  in  Brooklyn,  proposes  a  treatment 
of  the  borough  buildings  with  reference  to  the 
bridge  approaches,  so  that  vistas  of  the  chief 
public  buildings  would  be  enjoyed  along  the 
principal  thoroughfares. 

There  are  very  beautiful  parks  in  Greater 
New  York  and  there  are  a  number  of  delightful 
open  spaces  even  in  the  congested  business  dis- 
trict, but  the  total  acreage  is  still  inadequate 
and  the  distribution  of  the  parks  leaves  crowded 
tenement  regions  parkless.  Metropolitan  Bos- 
ton has  twice  the  park  acreage  of  Greater  New 
York,  and  has  fifty-seven  people  to  the  acre 
compared  with  440  to  the  acre  in  New  York. 
There  are  three  great  natural  parks  in  the 
borough  of  the  Bronx,  and  Central  Park  and 
Prospect  Park  compare  favorably  in  area  with 
parks  in  other  cities.  New  York  needs,  how- 
ever, larger  rural  areas  on  Long  Island  and 
Staten  Island.  Plans  are  now  on  foot  to  re- 
deem by  public  ownership  portions  of  the  sea- 
shore after  the  precedent  established  in  Revere 
Beach,  Boston.  Jacob  Riis  has  made  the  happy 
suggestion  that  Blackwell's  Island  be  devoted 
to  the  recreation  of  New  York's  normal  popu- 
lation instead  of  being  used  to  imprison  its 
defectives.  This  would  give  the  metropolis 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  parks  in  the  world 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  123 

in  a  location  almost  as  central  in  Greater  New 
York  as  the  park  of  that  name  is  in  Manhattan. 

The  neglect  of  earlier  generations  is  par- 
tially atoned  for,  at  enormous  expense,  in  the 
playgrounds  and  small  parks  being  established 
among  the  tenements.  The  most  satisfactory 
of  these,  Seward  Park,  was  completed  in  1903, 
after  being  used  tentatively  since  1899  by  the 
Outdoor  Recreation  League.  After  ten  years 
of  agitation  the  tenements  were  torn  down  to 
make  room  for  this  open  space  in  the  over- 
crowded Jewish  quarter.  Twelve  months  of 
inactivity  then  preceded  its  use  by  private  phil- 
anthropy, which  equipped  part  of  the  area  as  a 
playground  and  open-air  gymnasium,  fighting 
every  year  to  prevent  the  Park  Commissioners' 
turning  it  into  a  pasture.  Finally  Mayor  Low 
authorized  the  use  of  half  a  million  dollars, 
unexpended  from  the  1902  budget,  to  com- 
plete the  park  and  playground.  Including  the 
expense  of  the  purchase  and  destruction  of  the 
tenements,  it  has  cost  New  York  two  million 
dollars  for  this  recreation  ground.  This  is  no 
more  than  was  spent  for  the  Harlem  speedway, 
and  doubtless  the  experience  with  Central  Park 
will  be  repeated,  at  least  in  a  more  modest  way, 
the  enhanced  value  of  the  surrounding  property 
paying  for  the  improvement. 

In  addition  to  the  parks  and  playgrounds, 


124    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

New  York  provides  out-door  recreation  for  its 
population  by  recreation  piers  and  public  baths. 
The  most  economical,  but  one  of  the  most  satis- 
factory, of  recreative  institutions  in  a  populous 
city  on  a  waterway,  is  made  by  the  construction 
of  a  second  story  to  a  steamship  pier  and  equip- 
ping it  for  the  shelter  and  amusement  of  the 
people  of  the  neighborhood.  At  several  points 
the  refreshing  breezes  blowing  over  the  North 
and  East  Rivers  are  thus  made  to  serve  the 
authorities  in  the  entertainment  of  the  public. 
The  river  baths  of  New  York  are  patronized 
by  millions,  and  ocean  bathing  will  be  one  of 
the  future  provisions  of  the  municipality,  but 
the  metropolis  is  just  beginning  to  furnish 
bathing  establishments  open  all  the  year. 
Nothing  is  more  needed  by  the  tenement  popu- 
lation, and  in  few  things  has  Greater  New 
York  been  more  deficient.  New  standards  of 
hygiene  and  recreation  are  nevertheless  so 
firmly  established  that  the  metropolis  may  be 
expected  to  forge  ahead  now  that  the  way  has 
been  discovered. 

In  Greater  New  York  traditions  are  im- 
perious, innovations  are  scouted,  public  officials 
are  presumptuous,  and  the  people  are  patient. 
While  Reform  is  still  too  attenuated  to  support 
an  unpopular,  though  scrupulous,  egotist  as 
chief  executive,  New  York  always  has  a  place 


GREATER  NEW  YORK  125 

for  the  courageous  and  far-seeing  reformer. 
Some  of  the  funds  of  the  hundred-million- 
dollar-budget  will  inevitably  be  spent  by  men 
of  integrity  and  imagination  who  secure  a  pub- 
lic response,  which  neither  corruptionists  bent 
on  graft,  nor  reformers  intent  on  economy,  can 
ignore.  Superintendent  Maxwell  survives 
changing  administrations  and  the  public  schools 
make  new  advances  continually.  Dr.  Henry 
M.  Leipziger's  magnificent  work  of  adult  edu- 
cation is  still  heavily,  if  inadequately,  subsi- 
dized. Mr.  Charles  B.  Stover's  heroic  fight  for 
the  children  against  the  criminals  in  the  City 
Hall  and  the  farmers  on  the  Park  Commission, 
has  been  won  at  Seward  Park  playground. 
Jacob  Riis  and  others  secured  the  destruction 
of  the  tenements  where  Mulberry  Bend  Park 
and  Seward  Park  are,  and  will  undoubtedly 
triumph  in  the  effort  to  make  Blackwell's  Is- 
land a  park.  The  Merchants'  Association  ham- 
mers away  at  abuses  in  the  water  supply,  trans- 
portation and  lighting  functions,  and  municipal 
service  advances  while  municipal  spoils  dimin- 
ish. Progress  is  slow  and  costly,  but  the  seeds 
of  a  higher  civic  life  are  maturing  in  Greater 
New  York. 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN 

Can  any  good  thing  come  out  of  Nazareth? 
What  can  be  learned  from  Harrisburg,  the 
capital  of  the  state  so  long  bossed  by  Matthew 
Stanley  Quay  in  the  interest  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania Railway  Company?  Can  any  good  thing 
come  from  under  the  shadow  of  the  new  state 
house,  the  disgraceful  monument  to  collusion 
between  corrupt  legislators  and  a  discredited 
Chicago  architect?  Can  any  good  thing  come 
from  the  city  which  has  been  the  scene  of  the 
most  flagrant  interference  with  the  right  of 
local  self-government  that  has  ever  been  wit- 
nessed in  America?  In  spite  of  the  presence 
and  influence  of  corrupt  practices  by  corrupt 
bosses  and  corrupt  corporations,  Harrisburg 
is  being  regenerated  and  reconstructed  with  a 
promise  of  thoroughness  which  other  cities 
must  envy.  After  years  of  civic  inactivity  and 
bearing  the  burdens  of  a  dishonored  state,  more 
than  ten  righteous  men  were  found,  chiefly  as 
the  result  of  the  persistent  and  undismayed 
activities  of  a  woman. 

Harrisburg  is  a  typical  American  city,  with 
the  advantages  and  disadvantages  of  age.  It 
is  located  on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna,  at 
127 


128    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

this  point  a  great  body  of  water  a  mile  in  width, 
dotted  with  islands,  and  flowing  from  the  hills 
which  are  visible  from  Harrisburg.     The  city 
also  possesses  a  creek  which  wanders  through 
pleasant  meadows  and  woods  until  it  reaches 
the  inhabited  portion  of  the  town.    A  range  of 
low  hills  makes  a  happy  background  to  this 
beautifully  situated  capital  city.     Bygone  gen- 
erations have  left  some  delightful  old  houses  on 
quaintly  pretty  streets.      Until   quite   recently 
there  stood  on  an  elevation  in  the  midst  of  the 
city  the  fine  old  colonial  capitol  building,  which, 
destroyed  by  fire,  has  now  given  place  to  the 
half-million-dollar  mass  of  brick  and  mortar 
which  Henry  Ives  Cobb  erected  in  fulfilment  of 
his  agreement  to  furnish  the  second  state  in  the 
union  with  an  appropriate  legislative  hall.    The 
passing    generations    have    unfortunately    left 
Harrisburg  with  something  besides  a  beautiful 
natural   environment   and   historic   buildings. 
The  river  and  the  creek  have  been  turned  into 
open  sewers;    their  banks  have  been  used  as 
dumping-grounds.     The  waters  of  the  Susque- 
hanna, polluted  by  the  sewage  of  half  a  million 
people  above  Harrisburg,  have  been  served  to 
the  inhabitants  through  the  public  water  sys- 
tem.    The  typhoid-laden  water  supply  has  too 
often  come  into  houses  already  possessing  im- 
perfect  sanitary  appliances  and  congested   in 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  129 

their  construction  in  a  way  unpardonable  for  a 
city  of  only  fifty  thousand  inhabitants.  The 
streets  have  been  badly  paved  and  consequently 
imperfectly  cleaned.  Parks  and  playgrounds 
for  both  health  and  recreation  have  been  con- 
spicuously deficient.  In  fact,  as  has  been  said, 
Harrisburg  presents  the  problems  of  the  typical 
American  city.  The  methods,  unhappily  not  so 
typical,  by  which  it  is  making  amends  for  those 
sins  of  omission  and  commission,  will  be  found 
appropriate  in  other  cities. 

Miss  Mira  Lloyd  Dock,  a  member  of  the 
State  Forestry  Commission  and  of  the  Harris- 
burg Civic  Club,  having  spent  seemingly  fruit- 
less years  in  enlightening"  her  fellow-citizens, 
privately  and  publicly,  on  the  progress  of  civic 
improvement,  on  which  she  has  come  to  be 
regarded  as  a  national  authority,  finally  found 
the  time  ripe  in  the  last  month  of  the  old  cen- 
tury. Her  illustrated  presentation  of  the  "  City 
Beautiful "  impressed  the  slowly  awakening 
Harrisburg  citizens  with  the  deficiencies  of 
their  own  city  and  the  accomplishments  of 
others.  The  search  for  the  ten  righteous  men 
began.  One  of  them  presented  a  sketch  in  the 
Harrisburg  Telegraph,  portraying  the  possibili- 
ties of  improving  the  river  bank.  Another, 
Mr.  J.  V.  W.  Reynders,  proposed  in  the  same 
paper,  May  3,  1901,  that  a  fund  of  $5,000  be 


130    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

subscribed  for  an  expert  inquiry  into  the  prob- 
lems of  water  supply,  sewerage  and  parks.  In 
ten  days  the  fund  begun  by  Mr.  Reynders  was 
secured.  Ten  times  ten  righteous  men  and 
women  had  been  found. 

A  meeting  of  the  subscribers  resulted  in  the 
organization  of  the  Harrisburg  League  for 
Municipal  Improvements,  which  chose  an 
executive  committee  empowered  to  co-operate 
with  the  mayor,  the  city  engineer  and  a  repre- 
sentative from  each  councilmanic  body,  to  em- 
ploy experts.  This  committee  secured  the 
services  of  Mr.  James  H.  Fuertes,  sanitary 
engineer;  Mr.  Warren  H.  Manning,  landscape 
architect,  and  Mr.  M.  R.  Scherrerd,  paving 
expert.  Within  six  months  the  reports  were 
presented  and  printed.  It  remained  necessary 
to  subscribe  an  additional  sum  of  money  for 
the  purpose  of  conducting  a  campaign  to  secure 
the  approval  of  the  citizens  to  the  issue  of 
bonds  necessary  to  carry  out  the  suggestions  of 
the  report  and  to  elect  officials  who  could  be 
trusted  to  execute  the  plans.  In  less  than  a 
year  from  the  time  of  taking  the  first  practical 
step  of  subscribing  for  an  expert  investigation, 
the  entire  government  of  the  city  was  reorgan- 
ized and  the  legislation  secured  to  carry  for- 
ward the  most  spectacular  and  comprehensive 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  131 

scheme  of  civic  improvement  since  the  building 
of  Washington  a  century  before. 

The  document  published  on  November  21, 
1901,  entitled  "  Proposed  Municipal  Improve- 
ments for  Harrisburg,  Pennsylvania,"  is  as 
significant  for  the  guidance  of  other  cities  as 
are  the  methods  by  which  it  was  secured.  The 
sanitary  engineer  presented  a  report  which 
treated,  "  First,  of  the  improvement  of  the 
sanitary  condition  of  and  the  prevention  of 
floods  in  Paxton  Creek;  second,  the  improve- 
ment of  the  water  supply  of  the  city;  third,  the 
improvement  of  the  sanitary  condition  of  the 
Susquehanna  River  front,  and  fourth,  the  im- 
provement of  the  sewerage  system  with  recom- 
mendations as  to  the  proper  policy  to  be  fol- 
lowed in  future  extensions."  Two-thirds  of 
the  sewage  of  the  city  found  its  way  into  Pax- 
ton  Creek  which  flowed  through  the  heart  of 
Harrisburg,  and  the  question  arose  as  to 
whether  the  stream  should  be  eliminated  by 
diverting  its  source  of  supply,  or  whether  the 
crude  sewage  should  be  carried  off,  leaving  the 
creek  to  dispose  of  the  natural  drainage.  The 
latter  plan  was  decided  upon  as  not  only  more 
natural  and  more  beautiful,  but  also  as  sim- 
plifying the  work  of  sanitary  engineer  and 
landscape  architect.  An  intercepting  sewer 
was  proposed  to  divert  the  dry  weather  flow, 


132     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

and  the  bed  of  the  creek  was  to  be  deepened 
while  its  slope  was  steepened,  reducing-  the  dan- 
ger from  floods  and  making  it  the  chief  adorn- 
ment of  the  sections  of  the  city  through  which 
it  flows.  The  water  supply,  often  turbid  and 
always  polluted,  was  to  be  improved  by  filtra- 
tion. That  portion  of  the  city  draining  toward 
the  Susquehanna  River  was  to  benefit  by  recon- 
structed sewers,  while  the  river  front  itself  was 
to  be  protected  by  a  dam  which  would  maintain 
a  level  of  water  covering  the  sewer  outlets  and 
preventing  the  exposure  of  offensive  areas  in 
midsummer. 

The  report  of  the  landscape  architect  con- 
tained recommendations  for  a  comprehensive 
system  of  parks,  playgrounds  and  drives.  He 
indicated  how  fortunate  the  city  was  in  pos- 
sessing a  river  front  unobstructed  by  railroads 
or  manufactories,  and  proposed  a  drive  which 
should  begin  by  redeeming  the  water-front  and 
end  by  encircling  the  city.  The  park  areas 
should  include  the  islands  in  the  river,  a  portion 
of  the  wooded  creek  valley  below  the  city,  the 
extension  of  Reservoir  Park  back  of  the  city, 
the  wooded  bluff's  of  Paxton  Creek  Valley, 
enough  of  the  banks  of  the  creek  to  preserve 
the  trees,  and,  as  a  crowning  feature  of  the 
park  system,  the  beautiful  area  burdened  with 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  133 

the  designation  of  "  Wetzel's  Swamp."    In  Mr. 
Manning's  own  words : 

The  opportunity  for  a  great  country  park  at  Harris- 
burg  lies  to  the  north  of  the  city  in  the  tract  known  as 
Wetzel's  Swamp,  which  includes  about  five  hundred 
acres  of  swampy  and  dry  land,  framed  in  with  wooded 
bluffs  on  the  one  side,  and  a  line  of  fine  old  willows 
along  the  canal  on  the  other.  As  it  stands  today  it  is 
a  natural  park  with  beautiful  passages  of  landscape,  and 
fine  vistas,  over  great  stretches  of  meadow  land  to  dis- 
tant hills  beyond.  It  is  rare,  indeed,  that  a  city  can 
secure  a  property  having  all  the  elements  of  a  park 
landscape,  its  border  planting  of  fine  trees,  splendid 
individual  specimens,  and  woodlands  carpeted  in  spring 
with  numerous  wild  flowers. 

Here,  also,  there  is  a  comparatively  level  and  per- 
fectly dry  upland,  that,  with  but  little  clearing  and  the 
removal  of  pens  and  sheds,  can  be  made  available  for 
picnics  and  games.  In  the  meadows  masses  of  brilliantly 
colored  flowering  plants,  which  the  uplands  cannot  pro- 
duce, are  found,  giving  color  effects,  at  different  seasons 
of  the  year.  This  region  is  quite  accessible  by  steam 
and  electric  cars,  and  there  are  roads  at  several  points 
across  the  meadow  and  for  a  long  distance  along  the 
boundaries.  The  swampy  condition  which  prevails  upon 
much  of  this  land  can  be  remedied,  for  there  is  abundant 
fall  for  all  drainage  through  Fox's  Run  and  Paxton 
Creek. 

The  report  on  paving  dealt  primarily  with 
the  respective  merits  of  different  paving  ma- 
terials for  streets  of  varying  traffic  and  grade, 
advising  also  that  the  city  bear  a  larger  share 


134     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

of  the  expense  on  those  streets  where  traffic  is 
heavy. 

To  carry  out  the  recommendations  of  these 
experts,  it  was  essential  to  draft  a  series  of 
ordinances,  to  secure  their  passage,  and  to  issue 
the  necessary  bonds.  It  was  found  that  within 
Harrisburg's  debt  limit  it  was  still  possible  to 
spend  over  a  million  dollars,  and  this  amount 
would  cover  all  the  work  which  could  be  done 
before  more  money  was  available.  The  signifi- 
cance of  the  movement  which  led  to  this  bond 
issue  may  be  better  appreciated  if  it  is  observed 
that  for  a  city  the  size  of  Harrisburg  (popula- 
tion 50,000)  to  spend  a  million  dollars  in  public 
improvements  is  equivalent  to  the  expenditure 
of  twenty-five  millions  by  Philadelphia,  seventy 
millions  by  New  York,  and  eleven  millions  by 
Boston.  Indeed,  it  is  equivalent  to  more  than 
those  sums,  because  those  are  only  the  pro  rata 
amounts,  whereas  the  larger  city,  with  its 
greater  property  valuation,  can  invariably 
afford  to  spend  proportionately  more  than  a 
smaller  city.  A  still  better  indication  of  the 
meaning  and  strength  of  this  movement  is  evi- 
denced by  the  fact  that  in  addition  to  the  $5,000 
subscribed  by  a  few  citizens  for  the  employ- 
ment of  the  experts,  a  still  larger  sum  was 
secured  by  popular  subscription  to  carry  on  the 
campaign.    The  total  amount  provided  by  vol- 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  135 

untary  contribution  was  $10,221.55.  If  those 
larger  cities  were  to  subsidize  a  citizens'  move- 
ment to  a  similar  extent,  it  would  mean  that 
Philadelphians  should  give  $250,000,  New 
Yorkers  $700,000,  or  Bostonians  $110,000. 
The  deepest  significance  of  this  citizens'  move- 
ment lies  in  the  fact,  however,  that  the  improve- 
ment plans  are  intrusted  to  a  body  of  reliable 
officials,  chosen  under  the  direction  of  the  same 
group  of  public-spirited  citizens.  This  end  was 
attained  by  a  campaign,  the  methods  of  which 
were  as  instructive  as  the  goal  is  alluring. 

The  League  for  Municipal  Improvements 
opened  headquarters  on  the  main  business 
street,  where  meetings  of  the  organization  were 
held  and  the  plans  for  the  improvement  ex- 
hibited. The  official  report  was  soon  ex- 
hausted, but  there  was  printed  an  abridged 
report  entitled  "  The  Plain  Truth  about  the 
Harrisburg  Improvements,"  and  by  the  aid  of 
high-school  boys  every  householder  received  a 
copy.  Twice  a  week  during  the  campaign  these 
same  young  citizens,  one  from  each  voting  pre- 
cinct, distributed  literature  to  the  homes  of 
Harrisburg.  Modern  methods  of  advertising 
were  employed  to  assist  the  movement,  embrac- 
ing newspaper  cartoons,  bill-board  posters, 
and,  on  election  day,  trolley  cars  completely 
covered  with  advice  to  the  voters.    The  League 


136    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

secured  the  co-operation  of  business  and  pro- 
fessional men,  labor  leaders,  club  women  and 
the  clergy.  It  was  necessary,  however,  to 
overcome  the  apathy  of  the  majority  and  to 
antagonize  the  opposition  which  came  from 
some  landlords  and  the  corrupt  politicians. 
The  work  of  public  agitation  was  launched  in 
the  courthouse,  and  from  there  carried  to  all 
parts  of  the  city,  culminating  in  the  sermons 
preached  from  three-fourths  of  the  pulpits  the 
Sunday  before  election  day.  The  propaganda 
was  greatly  facilitated  by  the  employment  of 
lantern  slides,  especially  as  used  by  Mr.  J. 
Horace  McFarland,  secretary  of  the  local  league 
and  now  president  of  the  American  Civic 
Association.  One  of  the  most  effective  means 
of  overcoming  prejudice  and  bringing  enlight- 
enment was  the  presentation  of  the  subject  by 
the  women  of  the  Civic  Club  in  every  school- 
house  in  the  city.  Enthusiastic  children  made 
converts  of  apathetic  parents. 

The  inexperience  of  Harrisburg  was  not 
unlike  that  of  every  other  city.  The  majority 
of  the  people  were  astounded  by  the  exhibition 
of  familiar  scenes  in  all  their  hideousness.  The 
defilement  of  the  river  bank  and  the  creek,  the 
encroachment  of  the  obnoxious  bill-board,  the 
graphic  evidences  of  the  pollution  of  the  water 
supply  were  contrasted  with  the  relief  to  the 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  137 

river  from  the  construction  of  the  proposed 
dam,  the  beauty  of  the  Norway  maples  along 
the  river  front,  the  fascination  of  the  area 
known  as  Wetzel's  Swamp,  and  the  delight  of 
well-equipped  playgrounds  in  the  school  yards 
and  parks.  The  process  of  educating  the  citi- 
zen was  carried  into  his  very  street  and  home, 
by  showing  the  encroachment  of  the  telegraph 
and  telephone  pole,  the  butchery  of  the  trees, 
and  the  barrenness  of  back  yards.  The  remoter 
possibilities  of  the  execution  of  these  public 
works  which  might  come  in  the  more  dignified 
and  appropriate  treatment  of  the  Capitol  Park 
by  the  state  authorities  and  the  provision  of 
summer  bathing  in  the  Susquehanna,  indicated 
how  far-reaching  would  be  the  effect  of  these 
improvements.  The  League  was  most  fortu- 
nate in  having  the  assistance  of  nature  in  the 
campaign.  A  winter  flood  raised  the  level  of 
both  river  and  creek,  so  that  the  appeals  of  the 
League's  representatives  were  punctuated  even 
more  vividly  than  by  the  pictures.  Lethargic 
and  unimaginative  citizens,  who  were  unmoved 
by  the  reproductions  on  the  screen,  could  not 
gainsay  the  evidence  of  the  elements. 

Not  the  least  of  the  difficulties  confronting 
the  League  were  those  involved  in  the  choice 
of  city  officials  who  should  be  both  personally 
and  politically  satisfactory.     It  was  desirable 


138    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

to  re-elect  the  Republican  comptroller  and  the 
Democratic  treasurer.  The  Democratic  candi- 
date for  mayor  was  an  enthusiastic  friend  of 
the  League,  Mr.  Vance  C.  McCormick,  whose 
training,  begun  in  a  family  of  iron-masters, 
had  been  continued  as  a  Yale  football  captain 
and  a  city  councilman.  He  was  opposed  by  a 
Republican  of  the  familiar  type,  against  whom 
neither  good  nor  ill  could  be  said,  except  that 
he  was  silent  on  the  question  of  the  proposed 
public  improvements.  The  result  of  the  elec- 
tion was  more  than  gratifying;  it  was  electrify- 
ing. In  a  Republican  city  the  Democratic 
candidate  for  mayor  was  elected  by  a  majority 
of  2,566,  out  of  a  total  vote  of  11,039.  The 
Republican  city  comptroller  was  re-elected  by 
very  similar  figures,  2,542,  while  the  Demo- 
cratic city  treasurer  received  a  majority  of 
2,789  votes.  The  bond  issue  was  indorsed  by 
an  even  larger  vote,  3,590.  The  campaign  of 
education  had  received  most  discriminating 
endorsement. 

The  battle  cannot  be  said  to  be  entirely 
won.  The  organization  must  be  maintained, 
for  at  each  election  it  is  necessary  to  continue 
the  fight  for  an  executive  that  will  carry  out 
the  improvement  plans.  It  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that,  as  in  most  of  the  other  cities  of  the 
land,  tradition  favors  an  administration  by  the 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  139 

spoils  system,  unmolested  by  a  body  of  indiffer- 
ent citizens.  Yet  it  is  gratifying  to  record  that 
not  only  are  the  proposed  plans  in  process  of 
realization,  but  they  are  being  improved  and 
other  good  works  have  been  undertaken.  At 
the  annual  meeting  of  the  Municipal  League, 
November  21,  1903,  it  was  reported  that  an 
ordinance  was  to  be  passed  providing  for  a 
paid  fire  department  to  supplant  the  antiquated 
system  of  volunteers  which  still  persisted  in 
Harrisburg.  Fifteen  miles  of  street  have  now 
been  paved.  All  of  this  paving  is  asphalt  with 
the  exception  of  two  blocks  on  one  street  where 
wood  paving  has  been  laid.  Through  the  vigi- 
lance of  the  Municipal  League  and  the  mayor 
the  asphalt  has  cost  from  $1.73  to  $1.85  a 
square  yard,  instead  of  $2.53  as  in  the  old  unin- 
spected days.  Three-fourths  of  the  bond  issue 
has  been  used  for  the  construction  of  inter- 
cepting sewers,  the  cleansing  of  Paxton  Creek, 
filtration  of  the  water  supply  and  the  construc- 
tion of  the  dam  in  the  river.  Plans  for  the  fil- 
tration of  the  water  supply  have  been  materi- 
ally changed  from  those  of  the  original  report, 
the  plant  being  located  on  an  island  in  the 
river  instead  of  on  the  old  reservoir  site  above 
the  city,  but  with  promise  of  the  beneficial 
results  which  ought  to  be  expected  after  a  more 
liberal  examination  of  the  question. 


i4o     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

While  the  chief  expenditure  was  necessarily 
for  the  fundamental  sanitary  improvements, 
much  interest  must  be  aroused  in  other  cities 
by  the  proposals  for  park  extension,  as  these 
methods  of  enriching-  the  public  life  are  so 
much  more  obvious  to  the  uninstructed  ob- 
server. Here  the  significance  of  the  concerted 
plan  is  seen  at  its  best.  The  project  involves 
expenditures  over  a  considerable  period  of 
years,  which  shall,  however,  be  characterized 
by  consistency  with  the  general  plan.  The  city 
already  possessed  Reservoir  Park  of  twenty- 
four  acres,  which  has  now  been  enlarged  by  an 
extension  of  forty-five  acres.  This  park  occu- 
pies an  abrupt  elevation  above  the  city,  giving 
incomparable  views  of  the  river  and  the  hills 
beyond.  As  this  park  is  comparatively  remote, 
the  park  commission  (created  as  a  result  of  the 
League's  agitations)  has  planned  a  playground 
of  ten  acres  in  the  central  valley  of  the  city, 
easily  accessible  to  two-thirds  of  the  city's 
population. 

The  most  imposing  feature  of  the  scheme 
involves  the  co-operation  of  the  state  in 
the  extension  of  Capitol  Park  and  its  ap- 
proaches. The  state  promises  to  redeem  its 
abortive  attempt  at  capitol  construction  by 
spending  several  millions  more  under  the  super- 
vision of  a  competent  architect,  and  has  in- 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  141 

trusted  the  decorations  to  Edwin  A.  Abbey. 
The  approaches  will  give  a  vista  of  the  Susque- 
hanna River  on  one  side,  which  is  already  con- 
nected by  a  one  hundred  and  twenty- foot  street, 
and  crossing  the  Pennsylvania  Railway,  on  the 
other  side,  will  connect  with  the  encircling 
parkway  system.  The  most  beautiful  region 
within  access  of  the  city  is  the  frequently  men- 
tioned Wetzel's  Swamp,  the  acquisition  of 
which  promises  to  be  facilitated  by  co-operation 
with  the  board  of  public  works,  which  plans  to 
create  there  a  storage  reservoir.  The  parkway 
is  designed  to  connect  these  parks  and  others 
in  prospect  to'  the  east  and  south  of  the  city, 
following  the  most  beautiful  natural  features 
encircling  Harrisburg,  and  including  the  street 
along  the  river  front.  A  comparatively  slight 
expense  will  clear  this  of  all  the  structures 
between  the  street  and  the  river,  and  when 
accompanied  by  the  cleansing  of  the  river 
banks  will  give  Harrisburg  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  water-fronts  in  the  country. 

The  logical  steps  by  which  "  the  Harrisburg 
plan  "  has  been  achieved  point  the  way  of  other 
cities  to  a  common-sense  method,  but  it  is  not 
therefore  a  simple  one.  At  any  point  it  might 
have  failed.  There  might  not  have  been  the 
original  woman  who  kept  prodding,  or  the  man 
of  inspiration  who  proposed  the  subscription 


142     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

scheme,  or  the  faithful  citizens  who  supported 
him,  or  the  indefatigable  and  efficient  secretary 
who  managed  the  campaign.  At  any  point  a 
link  might  have  been  missing,  but  as  the  chain 
is  now  complete  the  task  of  other  cities  is  easier. 
It  may  not  be  without  value  to  contrast  a  typi- 
cal experience  of  the  historic  method  of  civic 
indecision.  In  a  city  of  the  middle  West  an- 
nual attempts  have  been  made  for  thirty  years 
to  establish  a  sewer  system.  During  that  time 
the  yearly  appropriation  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  few  unsanitary  and  entirely  insufficient 
cesspools  had  been  adequate  to  build  such  a 
length  of  sewers  as  would  by  this  time  have 
provided  a  complete  system.  No  small  city 
could  issue  bonds  enough  in  any  one  year  to 
equip  itself  with  sewers.  It  must  be  done  by 
following  a  concerted  plan  over  a  period  of 
years,  but  in  the  city  in  question  it  has  never 
been  possible  to  persuade  the  citizens  of  one 
ward  to  vote  to  have  the  work  begun  in  another 
ward.  As  a  consequence  of  this  selfishness  and 
lack  of  effective  leadership  a  generation  has 
gone  by,  and  the  city,  which  has  continually 
grown,  while  its  problems  have  become  more 
difficult,  has  not  even  begun  the  solution  of  this 
fundamental  question.  Meanwhile  in  less  than 
one-tenth  of  that  time  Harrisburg  laid  the 
plans  which   are   in   process  of   realization   to 


THE  HARRISBURG  PLAN  143 

solve  the  questions  of  sewage  disposal,  water 
supply,  street  paving,  parks,  playgrounds,  and 
boulevards. 

What  is  being  done  in  Harrisburg  may  be 
done  in  any  other  city,  large  or  small,  in  the 
country,  with  varying  possibilities  conditioned 
only  by  the  topography.  The  most  admirable 
features  of  "the  Harrisburg  plan"  are  that  a 
concerted  scheme  may  be  projected  without  re- 
quiring great  immediate  expenditure ;  that  this 
scheme  will  inevitably  grow  to  even  greater 
and  better  proportions  than  were  originally 
designed;  that  it  rests  upon  the  interest  of 
public-spirited  citizens,  expressed  in  their  sub- 
scription and  organization ;  that  it  proceeds  by 
the  education  of  a  continually  increasing  num- 
ber of  the  population ;  that  it  requires  the 
choice  of  able  public  officials,  who,  once  select- 
ed, will  accomplish  through  the  execution  of 
the  plans  public  improvements  which  are  them- 
selves the  best  sources  of  education  of  the 
people.  "The  Harrisburg  plan"  is  capable  of 
indefinite  extension  and  application,  but  it 
finally  rests,  as  all  plans,  simple  or  great,  must, 
upon  the  intelligence,  interest  and  integrity  of 
the  citizens. 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW 

One  of  the  most  distinguished  and  useful 
citizens  of  Chicago,  a  woman  of  wealth  and 
independence,  was  once  asked  why  she  did  not 
change  her  residence  to  a  more  attractive  place, 
and  her  reply  was,  "  Because  there  are  so  many 
things  here  to  be  done  over  again."  It  is  rare 
to  find  such  a  combination  of  domesticity  and 
civic  patriotism,  although  it  is  almost  uni- 
versally in  demand.  The  one  instance  in  city 
building  in  America  where  this  ought  not  to 
have  been  necessary  is  in  Washington.  Yet 
even  there,  having  started  with  a  clean  sheet, 
the  celebration  of  the  centennial  of  the  removal 
of  the  government  to  Washington  revealed  the 
fact  that  much  of  the  proposed  work  of  im- 
provement would  have  to  be  reconstruction. 
Nevertheless  such  was  the  vision  of  the  city's 
founder  and  architect  that  even  the  misdeeds 
of  carelessness  or  cupidity  have  not  prevented 
the  possibility  of  attaining  the  highest  ideals  of 
civic  beauty. 

The  World's  Fair  at  Chicago  furnished  the 
spectacular  example  of  the  construction  of  a 
great  temporary  city  on  a  single  scale  in  accord- 
ance with  a  comprehensive  plan;  but  it  was 
145 


146     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

only  an  ephemeral  city.  The  metropolitan 
organizations  of  Boston  mark  the  most  striking 
advance  in  municipal  co-operation  ever  wit- 
nessed in  America;  but,  while  each  organiza- 
tion deals  comprehensively  with  its  special  field, 
they  lack  co-ordination.  Greater  New  York 
represents  in  both  extent  and  population  the 
greatest  experiment  in  municipal  government 
in  the  history  of  America,  but  it  is  the  result 
of  economic  and  social  necessity  —  not  of  de- 
sign. The  Harrisburg  Plan  is  the  most  notable 
of  recent  endeavors  in  city  reconstruction ;  but 
its  several  improvements  are  rather  synchro- 
nous than  comprehensive.  The  one  peerless 
example  of  the  realization,  through  the  new 
civic  spirit,  of  an  original,  scientific,  and  artistic 
plan  is  Washington. 

In  1790  Congress  gave  to  President  Wash- 
ington the  power  to  select  a  federal  territory 
not  exceeding  ten  miles  square  on  the  river 
Potomac.  The  site  of  the  present  city  was 
chosen  by  Washington  in  January,  1791,  and 
Major  Pierre  Charles  L'Enfant  was  selected  to 
plan  the  new  capital  city.  A  happier  choice 
could  not  have  been  made.  This  skilful  young 
French  engineer,  utilizing  the  fertile  sugges- 
tions of  Thomas  Jefferson  and  the  invariable 
sanity  of  George  Washington,  executed  the 
boldest  and  most  satisfactory  city  plan  which 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  147 

it  has  been  the  privilege  of  modern  men  to 
design. 

The  primary  elements  in  the  plan  of  the 
nation's  capital  were  the  result  of  the  sugges- 
tion of  Washington  that  the  legislative  depart- 
ment should  be  kept  distant  from  the  executive, 
in  order  that  the  fundamental  conception  of  the 
constitution,  the  divorce  of  the  legislative  from 
the  administrative,  should  be  more  easily  main- 
tained. Recognizing  this  constitutional  prin- 
ciple in  the  construction  of  the  city,  the  plan  of 
L' Enfant  was  accommodated  to  the  purpose  of 
the  capital  and  the  topography  of  the  district 
with  such  success  that  it  required  a  century  of 
development  to  produce  a  class  of  men  who 
could  appreciate  its  significance. 

The  city  was  located  at  the  junction  of  the 
Potomac  and  its  chief  tributary,  on  the  sup- 
position that  the  main  approach  to  the  city 
would  be  by  water,  and  that  it  had  great  com- 
mercial possibilities.  Having  recognized  the 
fundamental  topographical  condition,  L'Enfant 
then  selected  the  site  of  the  Capitol,  a  central 
conspicuous  elevation,  and  planned  to  connect 
it  with  the  site  of  the  president's  house  by  the 
main  street  of  the  city  and  a  right-angled  park 
following  the  axes  of  these  two  buildings. 
The  prejudice  of  the  time  was  in  favor  of  a 
gridiron  plan  of  streets,  like  that  of  Philadel- 


148    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

phia.  L'Enfant  adopted  this,  but  superimposed 
two  radiating  systems,  like  the  spokes  from  a 
hub,  from  the  great  focal  points  of  the  Capitol 
and  president's  house,  providing  broad  avenues 
which  should  furnish  direct  means  of  com- 
munication and  beautiful  vistas.  These  were 
also  to  afford  opportunity  at  their  junction 
points  for  the  embellishment  of  the  city. 

Viewed  in  the  perspective  of  a  century,  one 
is  divided  between  admiration  for  the  genius  of 
L'Enfant  and  contempt  for  the  authorities  who 
allowed  the  least  departure  from  this  marvel- 
ously  satisfactory  plan.  Yet,  when  one  remem- 
bers the  tedious  development  of  the  city,  the 
poverty  of  the  government  in  the  earlier  days, 
requiring  gifts  of  property  from  the  original 
owners  and  sales  to  others  to  provide  funds  for 
the  federal  buildings,  the  destruction  of  the 
public  buildings  by  the  British  in  1812,  and  the 
modification  of  conditions  due  to  the  advent  of 
railways,  one  is  astounded  that  the  plan  re- 
mains so  nearly  intact  today.  Thomas  Twin- 
ing, an  Englishman,  writing  in  1796,  says  of 
Pennsylvania  Avenue,  the  central  thoroughfare 
of  the  city: 

....  A  large  wood  through  which  a  very  imperfect  road 
had  been  made,  principally  by  removing  trees,  or  rather 
the  upper  parts  of  them,  in  the  usual  manner.  After 
some  time  this  indistinct  way  assumed  more  the  appear- 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  149 

ance  of  a  regular  avenue,  the  trees  having  been  cut 
down  in  a  straight  line.  Although  no  habitation  of  any 
kind  was  visible,  I  had  no  doubt  but  I  was  now  riding 
along  one  of  the  streets  of  the  metropolitan  city.  I  con- 
tinued in  this  spacious  avenue  for  half  a  mile,  and  then 
came  out  upon  a  large  spot,  cleared  of  wood,  in  the 
center  of  which  I  saw  two  buildings  on  an  extensive 
scale  and  some  men  at  work  upon  one  of  them. 

As  late  as  1840,  De  Bacourt,  the  French 
minister,  wrote  that  Washington  was  "  neither 
a  city  nor  a  village  nor  the  country,  but  a  build- 
ing yard,  placed  in  a  desolate  spot,  where  living 
is  unbearable." 

All  cities  have  some  regard  for  topography, 
and  all  beautiful  cities  achieve  distinction  pri- 
marily by  a  recognition  of  topographical  advan- 
tages. Paris  began  as  an  island  in  the  Seine 
and  grew  in  all  directions,  restricted  by  suc- 
cessive fortifications,  which,  being  in  turn  de- 
stroyed, made  provision  for  the  concentric 
boulevards.  The  recognition  of  the  commerce 
of  the  Seine,  the  governmental  center,  and 
other  focal  points,  conditioned  by  elevation  or 
convenience,  determined  the  plan  of  reconstruc- 
tion executed  by  Napoleon  III  and  Baron 
Haussmann.  In  the  renascence  of  Vienna  the 
first  distinctive  element  is  the  river  and  the 
second  the  encircling  boulevard  or  Ringstrasse, 
lined  by  great  public  buildings  appropriately 
grouped.    Venice  is  a  city  of  the  sea,  deriving 


ISO    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

its  chief  beauty  from  a  full  recognition  of  its 
waterways,  as  was  subsequently  done  by 
Amsterdam.  Edinburgh  is  a  city  set  upon  a 
hill,  the  central  point  being  occupied  by  the 
castle  located  on  the  promontory  which  ter- 
minates the  two-mile  ridge  upon  which  was 
built  the  old  town  of  Edinburgh.  The  public 
buildings  and  parks  on  remoter  hills,  and 
Prince's  Garden,  occupying  the  ravine  between 
the  old  and  the  new  town,  add  to  its  beauty, 
but  serve  chiefly  to  emphasize  the  strategic 
position  of  the  castle  which  gives  character  to 
the  old  gray  town.  The  city  which  bears  the 
closest  resemblance  to  Washington  is  Karls- 
ruhe, and  this  doubtless  furnished  a  suggestion 
to  L'Enfant,  as  Jefferson  possessed  a  map  of 
the  capital  of  Baden.  Karlsruhe  is  not  only 
pre-eminently  but  exclusively  a  capital  city, 
the  chief  thoroughfares  radiating  from  the 
palace,  in  one  direction  providing  beautiful 
roads  through  the  forest,  in  the  other  determin- 
ing the  construction  of  the  city. 

American  cities  have  frequently  been  plan- 
less, as  was  Boston,  but  the  prosaic  mind  of 
William  Penn,  which  devised  the  rectangular 
plan  of  Philadelphia,  has  cursed  most  of  our 
cities.  Even  New  York,  which  was  con- 
structed a  century  ago,  had  inflicted  upon  it 
so  stupid  an  expression  of  the  gridiron  plan, 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  151 

that  the  streets  running  north  and  south,  mak- 
ing the  indispensable  arteries  of  the  city,  are 
separated  by  blocks  twice  as  long  as  the  much 
less  significant  streets  running  east  and  west. 
The  few  examples  of  rational  planning,  such  as 
Buffalo,  Indianapolis,  and  Sandusky,  are  so 
inadequate  as  to  bear  no  comparison  with 
Washington. 

The  plan  of  L'Enfant  was  complete  in 
every  detail,  although  it  has  been  modified 
partly  to  meet  new  conditions  and  partly  be- 
cause of  the  stupidity  of  government  officials. 
The  river  has  ceased  to  play  so  important  a 
part,  and  the  canal  which  L'Enfant  planned  to 
carry  from  the  river  up  to  the  Capitol,  across 
the  Mall  and  then  following  its  northern 
boundary  back  to  the  Potomac,  has  necessarily 
been  abandoned.  The  original  plan  of  the 
Capitol  grounds  is  so  satisfactory  that  nothing 
better  can  be  done  than  to  attempt  its  realiza- 
tion, even  though  the  building  has  grown  to 
proportions  which  he  did  not  anticipate.  The 
section  of  the  city  which  the  Capitol  was  de- 
signed to  face  failed  to  develop  because  of  the 
greed  of  one  of  the  chief  property  owners,  who 
attempted  to  avail  himself  of  his  position  as 
commissioner  to  grow  rich  out  of  the  necessities 
of  the  population.  The  prohibitive  prices  which 
Daniel  Carroll  demanded  for  the  land  east  of 


152     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

the  Capitol  resulted  in  the  location  of  the  busi- 
ness portion  of  Washington  between  the  Capi- 
tol and  the  president's  house.  Thus  the  rear 
of  the  Capitol  overlooks  the  central  portion  of 
the  city.  So  commanding  was  the  conception, 
however,  that  this  scarcely  detracts  from  the 
beauty  of  the  building  or  its  situation.  West  of 
the  Capitol  grounds  the  park  known  as  the 
Mall  stretches  for  a  mile  along  the  axis  of  the 
Capitol  until  this  crosses  the  axis  of  the  presi- 
dent's house,  when  the  park  turns  at  right 
angles  and  follows  the  latter.  At  the  inter- 
section of  these  axes  L'Enfant  proposed  to 
locate  the  Washington  Monument.  Bordering 
the  Mall  were  to  be  situated  the  other  neces- 
sary public  buildings  of  the  federal  govern- 
ment, and  at  the  intersections  of  the  diagonal 
streets  was  abundant  opportunity  for  placing 
monuments  and  fountains. 

The  failure  of  the  shortsighted  authorities 
to  realize  at  once  a  plan  so  comprehensive  may 
be  understood  if  we  remember  that  the  man 
who  executed  this  great  design  for  the  federal 
city  and  gave  it  his  personal  attention  for  many 
months,  was  rewarded  by  the  United  States 
government  with  the  munificent  honorarium  of 
twenty-five  hundred  dollars.  He  was  subse- 
quently dismissed  by  President  Washington, 
for  stubbornly  maintaining  the  integrity  of  his 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  153 

plan  by  promptly  razing  a  house  built  by  a 
politician  in  the  middle  of  what  was  to  be  New 
Jersey  Avenue,  and  died  without  recognition 
of  his  services,  after  a  disappointed  and  deso- 
late old  age. 

In  spite  of  the  preservation  of  the  primary 
elements  of  this  ambitious  plan,  the  depar- 
tures from  it  are  conspicuous  and  deplorable. 
The  Washington  Monument,  which  proved 
ultimately  to  be  one  of  the  noblest  memorials 
ever  erected,  instead  of  being  located  at  the 
intersection  of  the  axes  of  the  two  great  build- 
ings was  placed  for  the  sake  of  a  more  secure 
foundation  one  hundred  feet  south  of  the  axis 
of  the  Capitol  and  five  hundred  feet  east  of  the 
axis  of  the  White  House.  Had  the  monu- 
ment been  less  costly  and  successful  it  might 
have  been  moved  when  this  glaring  mistake 
was  finally  recognized ;  but,  as  it  is,  it  has  been 
one  of  the  greatest  sources  of  embarrassment 
in  planning  the  improvement  of  Washington. 
The  Mall,  which  was  to  provide  a  vista  from 
the  Capitol  to  the  Potomac,  was  cut  up  by 
streets  and  departmental  grounds,  in  response 
to  the  demands  of  various  departments.  The 
one  dignified  building  located  on  it,  the  Smith- 
sonian Institution,  is  in  marked  contrast  with 
the  other  insignificant  or  inappropriate  struc- 
tures.   The  Agricultural  Department  is  housed 


154     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

in  a  hideous  brick  building-  which  actually  turns 
its  back  upon  the  Mall.  The  most  serious 
offense  was  committed  in  1872,  when,  in  order 
to  secure  competition  in  railway  service,  the 
Baltimore  and  Potomac  Railway  was  allowed 
to  cross  the  Mall  from  the  south  and  establish 
a  station  on  its  northern  edge. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  for  many 
years  the  Mall  remained  undeveloped  as  pasture 
or  swamp  land.  It  is  nevertheless  difficult  to 
understand  why  buildings  elsewhere  should 
have  been  constructed  in  the  worst  possible 
location.  Some  men,  with  a  limited  sense  of 
proportion,  secured  the  location  of  the  Treasury 
building  directly  east  of  the  White  House,  so 
that  it  blocks  the  vista  of  Pennsylvania  Avenue. 
Then,  by  way  of  securing  symmetry  in  minor 
details,  while  ignoring  the  great  original  plan, 
the  State,  War,  and  Navy  Departments  build- 
ing was  located  in  a  corresponding  position 
west  of  the  Executive  Mansion.  The  new 
post-office,  an  exceptionally  hideous  structure, 
projects  sufficiently  into  Pennsylvania  Avenue 
to  add  to  the  disfigurement  of  the  chief  street 
of  Washington.  The  latest  and  greatest  of  the 
public  buildings,  the  Library  of  Congress,  was 
located  with  the  same  limited  vision,  anticipat- 
ing a  symmetrical  arrangement  with  a  proposed 
Department   of   Justice   building,    considering 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  155 

their  mutual  relation  to  the  Capitol  grounds, 
but  ignoring  the  city  plan.  The  result  is  that 
from  several  points  of  view  its  gilded  dome 
detracts  from  the  majesty  of  the  dome  of  the 
Capitol,  the  dominant  feature  of  Washington. 
Up  to  the  time  of  the  Civil  War  Washing- 
ton had  suffered  from  lack  of  funds  and  popu- 
lation, as  well  as  from  the  obscurity  which  was 
due  to  its  being  off  the  beaten  path.  Accord- 
ing to  Rufus  Rockwell  Wilson : 

Its  houses,  as  a  rule,  were  built  of  wood,  and  plain 
to  the  point  of  ugliness.  There  was  no  regular  grade 
throughout  the  city,  and  most  of  its  walks  and  avenues 
were  unpaved  and  ill-kept.  The  entire  water  supply 
came  from  pumps  and  springs.  The  sewerage  system 
was  fatally  defective,  and  the  wide,  shallow  canal  which 
extended  from  the  Potomac  nearly  to  Capitol  Hill  was 
a  disease-breeding  receptacle  for  the  city's  refuse  and 
filth.  There  was  no  street  railroad,  omnibuses  were  the 
only  means  of  communication  between  different  quar- 
ters of  the  city,  and  not  a  street  was  lighted  except 
Pennsylvania  Avenue.  The  fire  department  was  little 
more  than  a  name,  the  police  force  a  mere  constabulary, 
and  the  common-school  system  would  have  brought 
shame  to  any  New  England  town.  The  Capitol  and  the 
present  departments  were  unfinished  or  not  yet  begun ; 
weeds  grew  in  the  parks  and  commons ;  and  stables, 
wooden  fences,  and  patches  of  bare  earth  surrounded 
the  White  House. 

The  war  revived  its  importance.  Within  a 
decade  the  squalid  city  of  seventy  thousand 


156    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

inhabitants  doubled  in  size,  and  entered  upon 
a  new  era,  with  a  reorganization  of  the  local 
government.  The  creation  of  a  Board  of  Pub- 
lic Works,  with  Alexander  R.  Shepherd  as 
chairman,  inaugurated  a  genuine  municipal 
life.  By  the  methods  of  a  "  boss  "  but  with  the 
vision  of  a  seer,  Shepherd  prosecuted  the  work 
of  developing  the  city  in  a  manner  worthy  of 
the  nation's  capital.  A  sewerage  system  was 
constructed,  partly  by  arching  over  the  minor 
creeks,  which  had  previously  run  as  open 
sewers  through  the  city.  By  the  end  of  1875 
123  miles  of  sewers  were  in  use.  The  public 
water  system,  which  was  carried  by  aqueduct 
from  the  falls  of  the  Potomac  fourteen  miles 
above  the  city,  was  extended  so  that  not  only 
the  public  buildings  but  the  private  residences 
were  served.  Street  illumination  was  begun, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  city  datum  was 
settled,  requiring  the  grading  of  many  miles  of 
streets,  along  which  twenty-five  thousand  shade 
trees  were  planted.  One  hundred  and  eighty 
miles  of  streets  were  paved,  and  the  admirable 
plan  adopted  of  extending  the  lawns  so  that 
while  the  broader  streets  retained  their  width 
of  from  130  to  160  feet,  the  paved  area  was 
reduced  to  a  minimum.  The  public  control  of 
these  streets,  including  the  turfed  and  planted 
portions,  accounts  for  much  of  the  charm  of 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  157 

Washington  today.  In  1874  the  improvement 
of  the  Capitol  grounds  under  the  direction  of 
Frederick  Law  Olmsted  was  begun.  The  work 
of  landscape  architecture,  together  with  the 
sewering  and  lighting  of  the  grounds  had  con- 
sumed over  a  million  and  a  half  of  dollars  by 
1876.  The  beautifying  of  the  city  was  at  once 
followed  by  an  increase  of  population  and  of 
real  estate  values. 

Another  revision  of  the  form  of  govern- 
ment took  place  in  1878,  when  the  District 
Commission  was  established,  consisting  of  two 
civilians  and  a  government  engineer.  The  city 
is  thus  controlled,  as  are  other  capitals,  by  the 
central  government,  which  bears  half  of  the 
local  expenses.  The  growth  of  the  business 
and  residence  sections,  due  to  the  increased 
population,  has  been  also  accompanied  by  the 
multiplication  of  government  buildings  conse- 
quent upon  the  greater  volume  of  government 
business. 

In  1889,  after  over  two  decades  of  agita- 
tion, Congress  made  provision  for  the  National 
Zoological  Park  in  Rock  Creek  Valley,  by  the 
purchase  of  170  acres  of  land.  This  area  was 
subsequently  extended  until  1,605  acres  are 
now  included  in  that  territory.  This  park  and 
the  Soldiers'  Home  grounds  constitute  the  chief 
outlying   spaces   devoted   to    recreation.      The 


158    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

reclamation  of  the  Potomac  flats  begun  in  1882 
has  added  a  considerable  area  still  undeveloped. 
Including  the  grounds  about  the  public  build- 
ings and  the  various  squares,  circles  and  tri- 
angles of  the  city,  there  are  more  than  three 
hundred  spaces  reserved  for  public  use.  These, 
together  with  the  larger  parks,  give  an  acre- 
age of  2,882,  better  distributed  than  any  other 
city  parks  in  America. 

Not  least  among  the  municipal  improve- 
ments of  Washington  is  the  construction  of  a 
modern  street  railway  system,  under  the  rigid 
supervision  of  the  District  Commission.  The 
railways  of  the  District  of  Columbia  sell  inter- 
changeable tickets,  follow  routes  which  usually 
lead  from  one  side  of  the  District  to  the  other, 
employ  grooved  rails  on  the  paved  streets,  and 
use  the  underground  conduit  system  of  electric 
propulsion,  so  that  the  streets  are  not  dis- 
figured with  poles  or  overhead  wires.  The 
surface  transportation  lines  of  Washington  are 
probably  better  systematized  than  any  others  in 
the  United  States,  and  the  service  is  maintained 
under  indeterminate  franchises  which  give 
Congress  the  power  of  continuous  control. 

The  celebration  of  the  centennial  of  the 
removal  of  the  seat  of  government  to  Wash- 
ington, in  1900,  aroused  new  interest  in  the 
capital.     The  American  Institute  of  Architects 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  159 

availed  themselves  of  this  opportunity  to  hold 
a  meeting  at  which  the  improvement  of  the 
city  was  discussed  by  representative  architects, 
landscape  architects,  and  sculptors.  They 
recommended  that  the  Senate  District  Com- 
mittee should  appoint  a  commission  to  consider 
the  improvement  of  the  entire  park  system  of 
the  District  of  Columbia.  As  a  result  of  this 
suggestion  a  commission  was  appointed,  con- 
sisting of  Daniel  H.  Burnham,  architect,  of 
Chicago;  Frederick  Law  Olmsted,  Jr.,  land- 
scape architect,  of  Brookline;  Charles  F.  Mc- 
Kim,  architect,  of  New  York;  and  Augustus 
Saint-Gaudens,  sculptor,  of  New  York,  prob- 
ably the  ablest  body  of  men  ever  associated  for 
the  technical  consideration  of  a  public  question 
in  America.  Mr.  Burnham  was  Director  of 
Works  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair,  and  as 
architect  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railway  has  been 
instrumental  in  introducing  the  greatest  and 
most  satisfactory  modification  of  the  original 
plan  for  the  improvement  of  Washington  —  the 
removal  of  the  railway  tracks  from  the  Mall, 
and  the  construction  of  a  magnificent  union 
station  in  harmony  with  the  general  scheme. 
Mr.  McKim's  widely  known  work  in  the  Bos- 
ton public  library  and  the  Rhode  Island  capitol 
are  sufficient  to  justify  his  position  on  the  com- 
mission.   Mr.  Olmsted  and  Mr.  Saint-Gaudens 


160    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

stand  pre-eminent  in  their   respective  profes- 
sions. 

The  American  Institute  of  Architects  had 
considered  many  of  the  fundamental  difficulties 
in  an  attempt  to  realize  all  the  possibilities  of 
the  original  plan  of  L/ Enfant ;  so  that  the  work 
of  the  commission  was  somewhat  simplified. 
They  have  nevertheless  studied  the  subject 
much  more  exhaustively  than  any  unofficial 
body  could,  have  made  a  trip  to  Europe,  visit- 
ing Rome,  Venice,  Vienna,  Budapest,  Paris, 
London,  and  their  suburbs,  and  their  proposals 
are  as  appropriate  and  inspiring  for  the  twenti- 
eth century  as  were  those  of  L'Enfant  for  the 
nineteenth.  In  the  inauguration  of  their  plans 
they  also  had  the  good  fortune  to  receive  un- 
usual assistance  from  those  direct  representa- 
tives of  the  public,  the  chairman  and  secretary 
of  the  senate  committee,  the  late  Senator  Mac- 
Millan  of  Michigan,  and  Mr.  Charles  H. 
Moore.  If  the  original  plan  of  the  designer  of 
Washington  could  be  followed  as  closely  as  it 
has  been,  in  spite  of  the  difficulties  of  igno- 
rance and  greed,  there  is  surely  promise  that 
within  the  present  century  the  plans  of  the 
commission  may  be  fully  realized. 

After  Mr.  Burnham  had  triumphed  in  his 
bold  plan  of  removing  the  railway  tracks  from 
the  Mall  and  bringing  them  by  tunnel  to  the 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  161 

great  four-million-clollar  union  station,  the 
granite  fagade  of  which,  longer  than  the  Capitol 
itself,  faces  a  plaza  a  quarter  mile  north  of 
the  Capitol,  the  most  difficult  problem  con- 
fronting the  commission  was  that  of  treating 
the  vista  from  the  Capitol  so  that  the  misplac- 
ing of  the  Washington  Monument  might  be 
neutralized.  Great  ingenuity  has  been  shown 
in  the  proposal  for  a  boulevard  stretching  from 
the  Capitol  through  the  middle  of  the  Mall  and 
passing  on  both  sides  of  the  monument,  thus 
shifting  the  axis  of  the  Capitol  and  reaching 
the  Potomac  where  it  is  proposed  that  the  new 
memorial  bridge  across  the  river  shall  begin. 
The  grounds  above  the  monument  are  to  be 
reconstructed  in  the  form  of  a  sunken  garden, 
marble  steps  three  hundred  feet  in  width  lead- 
ing down  forty  feet  to  a  pool,  the  center  of 
which  is  on  the  axis  of  the  president's  house. 
In  the  words  of  the  commission's  report : 
"  Surrounded  by  terraces  bearing  elms,  laid  out 
with  formal  paths  lined  by  hedges  and  adorned 
with  small  trees,  enriched  by  fountain  and 
temple-like  structures,  this  garden  becomes  the 
gem  of  the  Mall  system." 

By  the  extension  of  the  axes  of  the  Capitol 
and  the  president's  house  a  Latin  cross  is 
created,  giving  at  the  points  of  intersection  of 
the   great   avenues   near   the   river,    two   new 


i62     A  DECADF  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

opportunities  for  dignified  a'dornment  of  the 
city.  Where  the  axis  of  the  Capitol  strikes  the 
line  of  the  Potomac  Memorial  Bridge,  several 
streets  and  the  Potomac  driveway  will  also 
focus,  giving  a  center  of  almost  as  great  dig- 
nity as  the  site  of  the  Arc  de  Triomphe  in  Paris. 
Here  is  to  be  located  the  Lincoln  Memorial  on 
the  choicest  remaining  site  in  Washington.  At 
the  end  of  the  president's  house  axis  is  to  be 
established  a  recreation  ground,  with  gymna- 
siums, playgrounds  and  public  baths.  The 
kite-shaped  area  included  in  the  lines  connect- 
ing these  outer  points  is  to  be  reserved  exclu- 
sively for  public  use,  the  public  buildings  of 
the  future  to  be  included  within  the  triangles 
formed  by  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  Ave- 
nues. This  will  require  the  purchase  of  a  cer- 
tain amount  of  private  property  and  the  de- 
struction of  some  not  very  valuable  buildings, 
but  it  is  essential  to  the  achievement  of  a  plan 
which  shall  be  worthy  of  the  Washington  of 
the  future. 

A  question  which  puzzled  the  commission 
was  the  treatment  of  the  Executive  Mansion. 
It  was  necessary  to  provide  more  space  for  the 
offices  of  the  president,  and  quite  serious  pro- 
posals were  made  to  establish  a  new  president's 
house  at  some  distance  north  of  the  present 
White  House.     It  was  finally  decided  to  recon- 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  163 

struct  the  president's  house  according  to  the 
original  plans,  and  this  piece  of  work  is  already 
completed,  with  better  results  probably  than 
any  new  plan  would  have  made  possible. 

Aside  from  the  reconstruction  of  the  Mall, 
the  most  spectacular  work  proposed  by  the 
commission  is  in  the  improvement  of  the  Poto- 
mac River  and  Rock  Creek  banks.  It  is  pos- 
sible to  make  on  the  north  shore  of  the  Potomac 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  embankments  in  the 
world.  It  is  proposed  to  have  an  elevated 
boulevard  which  will  not  interfere  with  the 
commerce  on  the  lower  level,  but  which  will 
mark  the  beginning  of  a  drive  taking  in  the 
chief  beauties  of  the  Potomac,  and  then  encirc- 
ling the  city,  connecting  the  various  parks  and 
public  grounds.  The  extension  of  Rock  Creek 
Park  from  its  present  site  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  city  along  the  line  of  the  creek  to  the 
point  where  it  enters  the  Potomac,  is  a  hygienic 
necessity  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  desirable 
aesthetic  improvements.  The  possibility  of  a 
beautiful  stream  bordered  by  paths  and  roads 
and  appropriately  planted  banks  in  place  of  a 
vile  open  sewer  will  certainly  insure  the  success 
of  this  part  of  the  commission's  plan.  In  addi- 
tion to  these  activities  of  the  commission  for 
the  beautification  of  the  capitol  city  public 
works    of    a    municipal    character,    including 


164    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

water  and  sewerage  systems,  are  being  under- 
taken, which  will  cost  over  seventeen  million 
dollars. 

Magnificent  as  are  all  these  proposals,  and 
hopeful  as  seems  their  realization,  at  least  at  a 
remote  date,  the  most  important  immediate 
result  of  the  report  of  the  commission  will  be 
the  location  of  all  subsequent  buildings  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  general  plan.  After  a  cen- 
tury of  comparative  indifference,  this  is  not 
easy  to  accomplish  at  one  stroke,  as  is  evidenced 
by  the  fact  that  a  new  building  for  the  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  has  already  given  trouble 
because  of  its  suggested  relation  with  the  old 
building  —  one  of  the  abominations  of  Wash- 
ington. By  the  triumph  of  the  plans  of  the 
commission  in  these  first  days,  the  future 
beauty  of  Washington  is  assured.  Tests  in 
abundance  will  be  made,  as,  according  to  the 
senate  committee,  the  Fifty-seventh  Congress 
authorized  the  construction  of  eight  new  build- 
ings including  the  Union  Railroad  Station,  a 
building  for  the  use  of  the  members  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  and  a  municipal  build- 
ing for  the  District  of  Columbia. 

In  order  to  arouse  public  interest  in  the 
work  of  the  commission  and  to  give  a  graphic 
demonstration  which  should  not  only  reveal  the 
immediate  possibilities,  but  also  act  as  a  guide 


.  '■'-', 


•Ml  SI 


•*  LIP 


If 


WASHINGTON,  OLD  AND  NEW  165 

in  all  future  work,  the  commission  prepared  an 
exhibit  which  was  shown  for  a  time  in  the  Cor- 
coran Art  Gallery,  and  is  now  located  indefi- 
nitely in  the  Library  of  Congress.  In  addition 
to  photographs  and  maps  of  Washington  and 
other  cities,  at  home  and  abroad,  two  huge  re- 
lief models  were  prepared,  one  representing  the 
Washington  of  today,  including  the  minutest 
building  of  the  present  city ;  the  other  indicat- 
ing the  city  of  the  future.  These  models  must 
inevitably  exert  a  great  influence  upon  the 
citizens  of  Washington  and  the  legislators  of 
the  country,  but  they  promise  to  do  more  than 
that;  they  furnish  the  most  necessary  sugges- 
tion to  the  progressive  and  ambitious  citizens 
of  other  communities,  namely,  that  each  city 
should  be  provided  with  two  such  relief  models, 
representing  its  present  deficiencies  and  its 
possible  accomplishments. 

This  will  not  be  the  only  way  in  which 
Washington  will  assist  in  the  improvement  of 
American  cities.  The  reversion  at  the  dawn 
of  the  twentieth  century  to  the  original  plan  of 
the  early  days  of  the  republic  is  the  highest 
tribute  the  talent  of  today  could  pay  to  the 
value  of  a  comprehensive  plan.  Throughout 
the  land  cities  will  be  stimulated  to  follow  the 
example  of  the  nation's  capital  in  devising  a 
rational  plan  for  the  recognition  of  commercial 


166    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

and  topographical  conditions,  and  then  to  en- 
rich the  city  both  materially  and  aesthetically 
by  sustained  progress  in  accordance  with  the 
simplest  immediate  necessities  and  the  highest 
ultimate  ideals. 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE 

In  the  eighteenth  century  "the  return  to 
nature"  meant  a  reversion  to  the  crudity  and 
nudity  of  Eden;  in  the  twentieth  century  it 
means  a  progression  to  the  plain  living  and 
high  thinking  of  the  Promised  Land.  The 
"natural  man"  of  the  earlier  period  was  one 
freed  from  the  restraint  of  the  privileges,  con- 
ventions and  tyranny  of  the  state.  Today  he 
is  the  man  who  applies  nature's  method  to  the 
existing  human  society,  and  who  recognizes 
that  nature  includes  man  and  his  power  of  in- 
vention and  co-operation.  Fellowship  is  as 
natural  as  hunger ;  but  while  the  latter  may  be 
satisfied  in  the  impenetrable  forest  the  former 
demands  organized  society  and  may  even  be 
facilitated  by  the  concentration  of  population. 
Slums  are  contrary  to  nature,  but  cities  are  not. 
The  artificiality  of  the  city  is  both  unnatural 
and  inhuman  but  not  more  so  than  the  monot- 
ony of  the  farm,  and  the  remedy  is  present  in 
potential  fellowship  and  the  increasing  regard 
for  nature. 

The  city  is  symbolically,  as  well  as  ety- 
mologically,  the  basis  of  civilization.  It  repre- 
sents not  so  much  the  realization  of  a  fuller 
167 


168    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

life,  as  the  opportunity  for  it.  It  is  easy  to 
exaggerate,  but  it  is  unwise  to  ignore,  the  con- 
trast represented  by  the  derivation  of  such 
words  as  "urbane"  and  "civil,"  "rustic"  and 
"pagan."  Indeed  this  invidious  comparison  is 
tempered  by  the  fact  that  the  Greek  word  for 
citizen  is  the  basis  of  our  word  "idiot."  It  is 
no  more  absurd  to  suppose  that  all  rural  life  is 
bucolic  than  to  imagine  that  all  municipal  life 
is  idiotic.  While  it  will  not  do  to'  make  ety- 
mology go  on  all  fours,  the  fact  remains  that 
the  city  commonly  signifies  opportunity,  and 
the  country  isolation.  It  is  a  happy  feature, 
therefore,  of  our  time  that  the  rapid  transit, 
which  is  socializing  the  rural  districts,  is  result- 
ing also  in  the  naturalization  of  the  city.  Ex- 
cursions bring  the  people  into  the  city  to  shop 
and  to  be  amused,  and  other  excursions  take 
city  folk  to  the  country  for  recreation  and 
recuperation.  These  transitory  experiences  not 
only  accomplish  the  temporary  result  of  enlight- 
enment but  also  establish  lasting  ideals.  Vastly 
more  important,  however,  than  the  facts  or 
visions  thus  acquired  are  the  experiences  which 
result  in  actual  transformation  of  the  modes  of 
life.  The  conveniences  of  the  city  are  being 
taken  to  the  country;  the  expanse  of  the  coun- 
try is  being  appropriated  by  the  city.  It  is 
necessary  that  the  farmer  enjoy  the  advantages 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  169 

of  good  roads,  centralized  schools,  the  trolley, 
the  telephone,  free  mail  delivery  and  the  travel- 
ing library.  It  is  indispensable  that  the  city 
dweller  have  access  to  tree  and  lawn,  park  and 
boulevard. 

The  transformation  of  the  ideals  of  life  is 
perhaps  best  expressing  itself  in  the  growth  of 
the  suburbs.  Here  there  is  a  combination  of 
the  material  conveniences  and  the  intellectual 
advantages  of  the  city  with  the  freedom  and 
seclusion  of  the  country.  The  harmony  is  still 
so  incomplete  that  the  city  "  cliff  dweller  "  looks 
down  with  scorn  upon  the  imperfectly  organ- 
ized subdivision.  Suburban  life  lends  itself  to 
caricature  quite  as  well  as  does  that  of  city  or 
country.  Henry  Blossom  in  Checkers  pictures 
a  man  who  goes  to  the  city  so  early  in  the 
morning  and  returns  to  the  suburb  so  late  at 
night  that  he  meets  himself.  But  the  true 
quality  of  suburban  existence  is  no  more  repre- 
sented in  the  woes  of  the  commuter,  than  the 
city  is  legitimately  characterized  by  the  bustle 
of  the  down-town  business  street,  or  the  coun- 
try by  the  forlornness  of  the  quarter-section 
farm.  In  their  accustomed  state  of  unrelation, 
we  might  denominate  the  limitations  of  city, 
suburb  and  country  as  provincial,  parochial  and 
rural;  but  in  their  growing  interrelation  each 
supplies  a  necessary  element  toward  the  com- 


170     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

pletion  of  the  social  life  of  the  citizen.  The 
suburb  represents  a  happy  union  of  urbanity 
and  rusticity,  but  it  would  be  impossible  with- 
out those  larger  dominating  features  of  national 
life. 

The  rural  exodus,  which  has  sometimes 
depopulated  the  countryside,  and  has  generally 
overcrowded  the  city,  cannot  be  stemmed,  but 
it  is  being  neutralized  by  the  reaction  from 
urban  life.  This  takes  two  forms :  the  growth 
of  the  suburbs  and  the  ruralizing  of  the  city. 
The  suburbs  of  Boston  constitute  a  population 
as  large  as  that  of  Boston  itself,  and  happily 
comprehend  elements  such  as  the  rural  parks, 
which  may  be  enjoyed  by  city  dweller  as  well 
as  suburbanite.  The  outer  zone  of  such  cities 
as  New  York,  Chicago,  and  Philadelphia  is 
growing  more  rapidly  than  the  inner  zone,  and 
at  a  time  when  the  innermost  zone  is  losing 
population  by  the  encroachment  of  the  business 
district  and  the  improvement  of  rapid  transit 
facilities.  This  great  expansion  of  the  city  has 
taken  place  in  spite  of  serious  obstacles,  the 
chief  of  which  has  been  imperfect  transporta- 
tion. The  future  belongs  not  to  the  city,  but 
to  the  suburb. 

Meanwhile  the  reaction  from  urban  life  is 
affecting  a  larger  population  in  the  transforma- 
tion of  the  city.     The  improvements  discussed 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  171 

in  "The  Making  of  the  City"  —  street  paving, 
cleaning,  sewering  and  other  fundamental  con- 
struction—  might  be  appropriately  considered 
here,  as  they  are  in  the  direction  of  a  return  to 
nature,  in  the  sense  that  they  are  the  applica- 
tion of  nature's  methods  in  the  service  of  man. 
The  filtration  of  water  supplies  and  sewage  and 
the  flushing  of  streets  are  only  more  expedi- 
tious methods  of  doing  nature's  work. 

A  more  obvious  regard  for  nature  is  shown 
in  the  beautifying  of  the  city  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  natural  features.  The  boulevards  of 
Boston,  Chicago,  Minneapolis,  and  other  cities 
provide  a  considerable  area  of  park-like  streets. 
The  New  England  common  gives  a  touch  of 
nature  where  most  needed  in  the  heart  of  the 
city,  as  does  the  city  square  of  New  York  or 
Savannah.  Both  beauty  and  economy  are  se- 
cured by  the  reduction  of  the  street  area  and 
the  extension  of  the  lawns  characteristic  of 
Columbus  and  Indianapolis.  Street  gardens 
are  the  result  of  the  private  planting  of  flower 
beds  on  the  parking  of  Dayton,  while  the  public 
is  admitted  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful 
residence  parks  of  St.  Louis.  The  water  flow- 
ing down  the  streets  of  Salt  Lake  City,  and  the 
municipal  supervision  of  the  trees  on  all  the 
streets  of  Washington  and  Louisville,  indicate 
a  new  conception  of  the  city  street.     It  is  not 


172    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

always  a  thoroughfare  and  should  never  be 
merely  a  thoroughfare.  Even  business  streets 
need  not  be  barren,  and  no  street  is  suitable  for 
residence  purposes  which  lacks  a  vista  through 
the  trees.  One  of  the  simplest  and  pleasantest 
phases  of  social  aesthetics  is  the  American  ten- 
dency to  banish  the  fence  and  leave  the  con- 
tinuous lawn,  in  democratic  contrast  to  the 
walled  grounds  of  the  English  "castle." 

The  cultivation  of  the  private  garden,  front 
and  rear,  is  being  stimulated  by  example  and 
association  and  by  the  admirable  books  and 
magazines  of  today,  and  is  being  assisted  by 
the  education  of  the  children,  especially  in  the 
state  of  New  York  and  in  Cleveland.  The 
extension  department  of  Cornell  University  is 
organizing  the  youth  of  New  York  into  Junior 
Naturalist  Clubs.  In  addition  to  imparting 
knowledge,  the  planting  of  school  and  home 
gardens  is  encouraged.  Last  year  over  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  envelopes  of  seeds 
were  sold  by  the  Home  Gardening  Association 
of  Cleveland  at  a  penny  apiece,  which  makes 
the  movement  self-sustaining.  Most  of  these 
found  their  way  into  the  gardens  of  the  Cleve- 
land school  children,  but  a  half  million  pack- 
ages were  prepared  this  year  to  assist  other 
cities  in  the  inauguration  of  the  same  scheme. 
The  school  gardens  of  many  American  cities, 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  173 

notably  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  and 
Menomonie,  open  the  eyes  of  city-bred  children 
to  the  mysteries  of  the  farm.  Nevertheless  un- 
numbered Americans  live  along  treeless  streets 
and  in  gardenless  houses,  millions  looking  out 
upon  blank  walls  and  many  others  on  vacant 
and  unkempt  lots.  These  hindrances  to  decent 
living  are  not  the  possession  alone  of  the  poor. 
As  John  Ruskin  said : 

I  find  now  that  the  ideal  in  the  minds  of  all  young 
people,  however  amiable  and  well-meaning,  is  to  marry 
as  soon  as  possible  and  then  to  live  in  the  most  fashion- 
able part  of  the  largest  town  they  can  afford  to  compete 
with  the  rich  inhabitants  of,  in  the  largest  house  they 
can  strain  their  incomes  to  the  rent  of,  with  the  water 
laid  on  at  the  top,  the  gas  at  the  bottom,  and  huge  plate- 
glass  windows,  out  of  which  they  look  uninterruptedly 
at  a  brick  wall. 

Trees,  lawns,  vines,  shrubs,  flowers  are  the 
touch  of  nature  which  are  doing  their  part 
toward  making  the  whole  town  kin.  Indeed 
the  movement  beginning  with  the  desire  for 
natural  beauty  and  reaching  to  the  compre- 
hensive ideal  of  city-making  is  one  of  the  finest 
expressions  of  the  co-operative  spirit  to  be 
found  in  America  today.  Taking  root  in  an 
inhospitable  time  and  hibernating  through  the 
period  of  chill  skepticism  it  is  bursting  into  full 
bloom  now.  The  great  majority  of  village  and 
civic    improvement   organizations   have   origi- 


174    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

natcd  in  the  last  few  years,  nine-tenths  of  them 
within  the  passing  decade.  Yet  there  still 
thrives  to  the  glory  of  its  founder  and  place  of 
nativity  that  which  may  be  called  the  parent 
society  organized  by  Miss  Mary  G.  Hopkins  in 
Stockbridge,  Mass.,  in  1853.  This  initial 
attempt  has  had  many  imitators  and  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases,  the  successor  of  Miss 
Hopkins  has  been  a  woman.  According  to 
Warren  Manning  (Craftsman,  February,  1904, 
p.  427)  : 

The  first  powerful  impetus  to  village  improvement 
was  given  by  B.  G.  Northrup,  secretary  of  the  Connecti- 
cut State  Board  of  Education,  who,  in  his  report  of  1869, 
wrote  upon  "  How  to  Beautify  and  Build  Up  Our  Coun- 
try Towns,"  an  article  which  he  states  was  received  with 
ridicule.  He  thereafter  for  years  wrote  much,  lectured 
often,  and  before  1880  had  organized  not  less  than  one 
hundred  societies  in  the  New  England  and  Middle 
States.  His  writings  were  published  by  the  daily  papers, 
and  the  New  York  Tribune  republished  and  offered  for 
sale,  in  1891,  at  three  dollars  per  hundred,  his  "  Rural 
Improvement  Association,"  which  he  first  published  in 
1880.  It  is  interesting  to  note  some  of  the  objects  espe- 
cially touched  upon  in  this  pamphlet ;  "  To  cultivate 
public  spirit  and  foster  town  pride,  quicken  intellectual 
life,  promote  good  fellowship,  public  health,  improve- 
ment of  roads,  roadsides  and  sidewalks,  street  lights, 
public  parks,  improvement  of  home  and  home  life,  orna- 
mental and  economic  tree-planting,  improvement  of  rail- 
road stations,  rustic  roadside  seats  for  pedestrians,  bet- 
terment of  factory  surroundings." 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  175 

The  experience  of  more  recent  years  has 
elaborated  the  functions  of  civic  improvement 
societies,  but  the  spirit  which  animates  them 
has  never  been  better  stated.  Nevertheless 
the  time  was  not  ripe  until  the  new  civic  spirit 
pervaded  the  country  in  the  last  decade  of  the 
century,  as  is  evidenced  not  only  by  the  great 
multiplication  of  such  societies,  but  by  the 
variety  of  functions  which  they  successfully 
perform.  In  addition  to  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  local  organizations  the  national  sig- 
nificance of  the  movement  found  expression  in 
the  American  Park  and  Out-door  Art  Associa- 
tion and  the  American  League  for  Civic  Im- 
provement; the  former  an  association  of 
nature  lovers  and  experts,  the  latter  a  federa- 
tion of  local  societies  and  workers.  The  union 
of  these  two  national  bodies  in  the  American 
Civic  Association  at  the  World's  Fair  conven- 
tion in  St.  Louis  set  another  milestone  of  civic 
progress.  The  comprehensive  scope  of  this 
national  organization  is  indicated  by  its  depart- 
ments, presided  over  by  noted  specialists :  pub- 
lic recreation,  arts  and  crafts,  city  making,  out- 
door art,  factory  betterment,  children's  gar- 
dens, libraries,  parks  and  public  reservations, 
public  nuisances,  railroad  improvements,  rural 
improvements,  school  extension,  social  settle- 
ments, press.     There  are  now  two  thousand, 


176    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

two  hundred  local  organizations  in  America. 
They  are  found  not  only  in  villages  and  small 
towns  but  in  larger  cities  as  well ;  in  the  latter 
often  as  neighborhood  organizations.  On  the 
south  side  of  Chicago  a  succession  of  such  small 
societies  extends  over  a  distance  of  eight  or  ten 
miles  and  in  Cook  county  there  is  a  federation 
of  improvement  societies.  In  St.  Louis  a  gen- 
eral Civic  improvement  League  undertakes  to 
serve  the  entire  city.  The  impulse  given  by 
one  enthusiastic  woman  has  resulted  in  an  effi- 
cient society  of  two  thousand  members,  who 
endeavored  first  to  make  the  city  worthy  of  a 
world's  fair  and  now  are  striving  to  make  it 
worthier  than  any  world's  fair.  However 
large  these  organizations  may  of  necessity  be- 
come, the  germ  of  village  improvement  is  their 
source.  Other  societies  may  have  commercial 
advantage  or  municipal  reform  or  municipal 
art  as  their  object,  but  civic  improvement,  al- 
though its  purposes  may  grow  very  complex, 
is  based  primarily  on  an  appreciation  of  the 
methods  and  beauties  of  nature.  Hence  the 
work  which  is  being  done  in  cities,  towns  and 
villages  is  easily  linked  with  rural  improve- 
ment. 

The  country  might  be  supposed  to  need 
no  return  to  nature,  but  the  destructive  activi- 
ties of  man  have  been  so  great  and  his  con- 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  177 

structive  work  so  slight  that  the  rural  tasks  are 
as  difficult  as  those  of  the  city.  The  means  of 
communication  in  the  city  may  be  a  source  of 
disfigurement  but  they  exist,  indeed  their  chief 
fault  is  their  assertiveness.  In  the  country  the 
problem  of  transportation  is  still  in  such  a 
rudimentary  stage  that  communication  is  often 
impossible  in  winter  and  not  infrequently  dis- 
agreeable in  summer.  In  some  parts  of  the 
country  this  is  explained,  if  not  excused,  by  the 
absence  of  road-building  materials.  In  general, 
however,  it  is  due  to  the  great  extension  of 
railroads  in  the  United  States.  Even  those  dis- 
tricts untouched  by  the  railroad  are  now 
promised  relief  by  the  trolley,  and  too  often  at 
the  direct  expense  of  the  highway  which  is 
virtually  surrendered  to  the  trolley  company. 
The  good  roads  movement,  which  is  gaining 
new  vigor  daily,  will  have  as  one  of  its  respon- 
sibilities the  education  of  the  citizen  to  insist 
that  the  trolley  companies  occupy  their  own 
right  of  way.  Improved  highways  are  being 
promoted  by  the  National  Good  Roads  Asso- 
ciation, by  the  experimental  work  of  the  Agri- 
cultural Department,  which  builds  sections  of 
good  roads  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and 
by  national,  state  and  county  expenditure. 

Road  building  in  the  United  States  began 
with  the  first  appropriation  for  the  Cumberland 


178    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Road,  to  run  from  Cumberland,  Maryland,  to 
a  point  on  the  Ohio  River  opposite  Steuben- 
ville.  From  1810  to  1816  $680,000  were  ap- 
propriated to  be  covered  by  a  percentage  from 
the  sale  of  lands  in  Ohio.  By  1838,  $1,600,- 
000  had  been  spent  for  various  roads. 
From  that  time  until  the  Civil  War  a  similar 
amount  was  appropriated.  Since  that  time 
the  work  of  road  building  has  been  left  with 
the  local  government,  with  the  consequence 
that  the  characteristics  of  the  state  govern- 
ments and  the  accessibility  of  good  materials 
cause  most  astonishing  variations  in  the  treat- 
ment of  this  public  necessity  in  the  different 
states.  The  building  of  roads  by  states  began 
in  Massachusetts,  but  state  aid  to  roads  has 
achieved  the  greatest  success  in  New  Jersey. 
Remarkable  progress  has  been  made  recently 
in  North  Carolina,  Georgia  and  other  states  by 
the  building  of  roads  with  convict  labor,  with 
not  only  economic  but  humane  benefits. 

Better  roads  signify  not  only  material  bene- 
fits to  the  rural  population  but  they  facilitate 
the  advance  of  civilization.  The  results  of 
isolation  evidenced  by  the  condition  of  Ken- 
tucky mountaineers  are  sufficiently  impressive. 
One  need  mention  only  two  of  the  forces  aided 
by  good  roads  to  see  their  far-reaching  influ- 
ence —  free  rural  mail  delivery  and  centralized 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  179 

schools.  The  first  rural  free  delivery  route  was 
established  in  West  Virginia  in  October,  1896. 
The  following  year  forty-four  routes  were 
maintained  at  an  expense  of  $10,000.  In  1900 
the  number  of  routes  had  grown  to  2,551  and 
1,801,524  people  were  benefited. 

Massachusetts  passed  a  law  in  1869  per- 
mitting the  transportation  of  school  children 
to  a  central  rural  school  building,  thus  doing 
away  with  a  number  of  small  country  schools, 
inadequately  equipped  and  taught  for  a  brief 
season  by  an  incompetent  person.  Quincy 
availed  itself  of  this  law  in  1874,  and  from  that 
time  its  benefits  have  been  extended  in  Massa- 
chusetts, and  other  states  have  adopted  the 
same  method.  The  necessity  for  centralized 
schools  is  illustrated  by  the  records  of  Indiana, 
which  reports,  "  108  schools  with  fewer  than  5 
pupils  in  average  daily  attendance,  487  schools 
with  fewer  than  10  in  attendance,  1,253  schools 
with  fewer  than  15;  2,332  schools  with  fewer 
than  20,  making  in  all  more  than  4,200  schools, 
in  each  of  which  there  is  an  attendance  too 
small  for  vigorous  and  highly  profitable  work." 
The  greatest  success  has  been  achieved  in 
northern  Ohio,  where  with  greater  economy 
superior  results  have  been  attained  in  the  cen- 
tralized schools,  and  thus,  probably  the  most 


i8o     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

efficient  expedient  for  making-  rural  life  worth 
while  has  been  adopted. 

The  enrichment  of  country  life  is  also 
furthered  by  the  free  traveling  library  which 
in  some  form  is  now  found  in  almost  every 
state.  The  state  of  Wisconsin  (as  the  result 
of  the  initiative  of  Senator  J.  H.  Stout,  of 
Menomonie)  supports  about  four  hundred 
traveling  libraries,  of  which  fifty-one  are  Ger- 
man. The  libraries  are  provided  by  private 
subscription  and  then  the  state  maintains  and 
distributes  them.  A  new  force  promises  to  be 
found  in  the  county  libraries  such  as  Hon.  J.  S. 
Brumback  established  in  Van  Wert  County, 
Ohio,  a  method  which  prevails  in  Oregon.  The 
building  is  located  in  the  county  seat,  but 
branch  stations  are  maintained  throughout  the 
county. 

The  redemption  of  the  country  must  begin 
with  the  proper  use  of  its  natural  advantages. 
The  development  of  irrigation,  of  canals,  and 
of  water-power  is  of  fundamental  importance 
in  furthering  a  return  to  nature  as  well  as  a 
return  of  nature.  The  most  obvious  and 
beautiful  of  the  newer  expressions  of  this 
old  faith  is  an  appreciation  of  the  trees. 
The  treeless  street  and  road  and  schoolhouse 
will  not  much  longer  disfigure  the  landscape. 
Thanks  to  the  Hon.  J.   Sterling  Morton,   we 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  181 

observe  throughout  the  country  Arbor  Day, 
which  he  instituted  in  Nebraska  in  1872.  We 
are  almost  ready  to  accept  the  declaration  of 
William  Morris  that  any  one  who  would  heed- 
lessly cut  down  a  tree,  especially  in  a  large  city, 
need  make  no  claim  to  caring  for  art.  Let  us 
hope  this  new  zeal  has  not  come  too  late.  The 
grim  spectral  forests  of  northern  Michigan, 
Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota,  the  decaying  lum- 
ber towns  of  the  Great  Lakes,  the  freshets  of 
the  Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  and  perhaps 
cyclones  and  drouth,  all  testify  to  man's  crim- 
inal folly,  negligence  and  destructiveness. 
Even  in  our  national  forest  reserves  from  1881 
to  1887  it  is  claimed  nearly  thirty-seven  mil- 
lion dollars  worth  of  timber  had  been  stolen, 
while  that  consumed  by  running  fires  during 
the  same  period  is  set  at  two  hundred  millions. 
These  are  painful  facts,  but  we  may  cheer 
ourselves  by  some  great  accomplishments. 
Sixteen  states  now  have  officers  for  forest 
work,  twelve  of  them  being  forestry  commis- 
sioners. The  federal  government  has  estab- 
lished fifty-three  reservations  containing  sixty- 
two  million  acres  of  public  forests  protected  by 
five  hundred  public  employees.  This  is  a  mag- 
nificent beginning,  but  Professor  Fernew  says 
that  we  need  six  hundred  million  acres  to  main- 
tain our  annual  consumption  of  three  hundred 


i82     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

and  fifty  cubic  feet  per  capita.  We  may,  how- 
ever, learn  to  thrive  with  less,  as  England  uses 
only  fifteen  cubic  feet  per  capita.  The  three 
schools  of  forestry,  at  Yale,  Cornell,  and  Balti- 
more (although  that  at  Cornell  was  unfortu- 
nately suspended  by  Governor  Odell's  veto  of 
its  appropriation),  are  all  virtually  the  product 
of  the  twentieth  century.  They  are  a  tardy  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  in  spite  of  the  previous 
destruction  of  forests  the  annual  consumption 
of  timber  amounts  to  about  a  thousand  million 
dollars,  a  crop  exceeded  among  agricultural 
products  only  by  corn. 

The  reservations  include  a  million  acres  of 
yellow  pine  in  the  Black  Hills;  twelve  million 
acres  of  forest-covered  mountains  in  the 
Rockies;  "twelve  and  a  half  million  acres, 
extending  over  the  wild,  unexplored  Olympic 
Mountains  and  both  flanks  of  the  Cascade 
range,  the  wet  and  the  dry "  in  Washington 
and  Oregon;  the  Sierra  reserves  in  California 
of  four  million  acres  "of  the  grandest  scenery 
and  grandest  trees  on  the  continent;"  and  the 
two-million  acre  tract  in  southern  California. 
In  addition  to  the  forest  reserves,  which  are 
comparatively  recent,  the  national  parks  are 
worthy  of  special  attention.  The  first  of  these 
was  the  Yellowstone.    Mr.  Muir  says : 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  183 

As  delineated  in  the  year  1872,  the  park  contained 
about  3,344  square  miles.  On  March  30,  1891,  it  was  to 
all  intents  and  purposes  enlarged  by  the  Yellowstone 
National  Park  Timber  Reserve ;  and  in  December,  1897, 
by  the  Teton  Forest  Reserve;  thus  nearly  doubling  its 
original  area,  and  extending  the  southern  boundary  far 
enough  to  take  in  the  sublime  Teton  range  and  the 
famous  pasture-lands  of  the  big  Rocky  Mountain  game 
animals. 

In  1880  the  government  set  aside  911  acres 
in  Arkansas  for  the  Hot  Springs  Reservation. 
In  1890  the  Yosemite  National  Park  of  1,512 
square  miles,  the  Sequoia  Park  of  250  square 
miles,  and  the  General  Grant  Park,  about  two 
miles  square,  were  established  in  California. 
In  1892  the  Casa  Grande  Ruin,  480  acres  in 
Arizona;  in  1899  the  Mount  Rainier  National 
Park  in  Washington,  and  in  1903  the  Wind 
Cave  National  Park  in  South  Dakota  were 
added.  If  America  is  deficient  in  human  tradi- 
tions and  antiquities  it  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  it  possesses  the  most  magnificent  inheri- 
tance from  the  remote  past  to  be  found  in  the 
world.  The  giant  trees  of  the  Sequoia  Park, 
and  especially  those  it  is  hoped  may  be  saved 
from  destruction  in  Calaveras  County,  ante- 
date the  pyramids.  They  took  their  place  in 
the  book  of  Nature  before  the  first  hieroglyphic 
inscriptions  were  produced.  The  time  ought 
to  have  arrived  when  an  injury  to  one  of  them 


i&4     A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

would  be  regarded  as  no  less  offensive  than 
vandalism  in  Egypt. 

Rural  parks  of  great  natural  beauty  or 
areas  of  special  historical  significance  have 
also  been  reserved  by  states  and  smaller  politi- 
cal organizations.  Among  these  are  great 
battlefields  like  Gettysburg,  Chattanooga  and 
Lake  George,  the  Massachusetts  state  reserva- 
tions, the  forests  and  lakes  of  Minnesota  and 
Wisconsin,  the  Niagara  Falls  Park  in  New 
York,  and  the  Interstate  Palisades  Park.  The 
general  public  has  a  peculiar  interest  in  these 
last  two  achievements.  The  distressing  condi- 
tions under  which  one  was  formerly  compelled 
to  see  the  greatest  of  our  country's  natural 
treasures,  on  account  of  the  arrogance  of  the 
proprietors  and  fakirs,  who  were  allowed  to 
gather  unholy  pelf  from  a  holy  pilgrimage,  are 
still  fresh  in  our  memory.  Nor  can  we  ever 
forget  the  brutal  destruction  of  portions  of 
the  incomparable  Palisades  to  enrich  the  in- 
satiable owners  of  quarries.  Happily  the  state 
of  New  York  has  made  a  visit  t'o  Niagara  Falls 
as  delightful  as  it  might  have  been  to  the 
aborigines,  and  the  states  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey,  stimulated  by  the  American  Scenic 
and  Historic  Preservation  Society  and  assisted 
by  private  generosity,  guarantee  the  protection 
of  the  Palisades  from  further  destruction. 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  185 

Comparable  to  these  state  reserves  and  even 
more  accessible  to  large  populations  and  sug- 
gestive  to   other  communities,   are   the   rural 
parks  of  the  Boston  Metropolitan  District  and 
Essex  County,  New  Jersey.     The  former  were 
described    in    the    chapter    on    "Metropolitan 
Boston."     They  constitute  the  most  complete 
city  park  system  in  the  world  and  include  the 
largest  municipal  park  in  the  United  States, 
the   Blue   Hills   Reservation  of  five  thousand 
acres  of  wild  mountain  scenery.     Perhaps  the 
most  encouraging  feature  in  the  establishment 
of  these  two  great  systems  is  the  expedition 
with  which  it  was  accomplished.     Within  ten 
years  by  an  expenditure  of  ten  million  dollars 
the  Boston  district  had  added  to  its  park  pro- 
visions ten  thousand  acres.     In  Essex  County, 
New   Jersey,    an   expenditure   of  five   million 
dollars  in  eight  years  gave  them  a  park  system 
of  3,600  acres.     According  to  Alonzo  Church, 
secretary  of  the  commission,  "  When  the  pres- 
ent commission  came  into  being  in  1895  there 
were,  within  a  county  of  about  ten  miles  square 
and  containing  a  population  of  three  hundred 
thousand    people,    only    twenty-five    acres    of 
usable  park  land.     This  was  comprised  in  the 
few  public  squares  in  the  cities  of  Newark  and 
Orange,    which    the    foresight    of    the    early 
settlers  had  reserved." 


i86    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

Two  great  accomplishments  must  be  cred- 
ited to  the  Essex  County  Park  Commissioners. 
They  provided  parks  and  playgrounds  near  the 
congested  districts  by  utilizing  land  which  was 
entirely  suitable  for  recreation  but  was  virtu- 
ally valueless  for  building  purposes,  thus  fur- 
nishing parks  at  a  minimum  expense  in  the 
localities  most  needing  them.  They  also  ap- 
propriated some  of  the  most  beautiful  natural 
scenery  of  their  very  picturesque  county  by  re- 
serving hilltops,  and  slopes  beyond  the  present 
area  of  settlement.  One  of  these,  Eagle  Rock, 
the  summit  of  one  ridge  of  the  Orange  Moun- 
tains, rises  abruptly  150  feet  from  the  plain 
below,  and  is  said  to  give  an  outlook  "over 
more  human  habitations  than  from  any  other 
natural  elevation  in  the  world.  The  view  in- 
cludes Newark  and  the  Oranges,  Elizabeth, 
Bayonne  and  Greater  New  York  with  a  popu- 
lation of  nearly  six  million."  On  the  other  side 
of  this  ridge,  and  particularly  in  the  other 
mountain  reservation,  one  may  wander  for 
miles  out  of  sight  of  human  habitation.  The 
Park  and  Pleasure  Drive  Association  of  Madi- 
son, Wisconsin,  has  within  ten  years  at  an  ex- 
penditure of  only  fifty  thousand  dollars,  an- 
nexed great  areas  of  the  marvelously  beautiful 
country  surrounding  Wisconsin's  capital  by  the 
simple   expedient   of   constructing  twenty-five 


THE  RETURN  TO  NATURE  187 

miles  of  driveways.  The  co-operation  of  both 
city  and  state  are  now  secured  in  the  extension 
of  urban  and  rural  parks  along  these  drives, 
which  border  lakes,  wind  through  woods,  and 
traverse  ravines  and  hills.  The  possibilities  of 
nature  are  nowhere  better  revealed  than  in 
Golden  Gate  Park,  San  Francisco,  where  seem- 
ingly hopeless  sand  dunes  have  been  trans- 
formed into  what  is,  perhaps,  the  most  beauti- 
ful park  in  America. 

John  Burroughs  says,  "  Nature  is  all  things 
to  all  men."  If  we  will  enslave  her,  she  will 
be  our  servant,  although  when  abused  she  may 
desert  and  starve  us.  The  forest  may  minister 
to  our  needs  perennially  but  if  one  disregard 
nature's  laws  and  say,  "  After  me  the  deluge !  " 
he  may  find  a  realistic  fulfilment  of  his  folly. 
If  we  seek  nature  for  companionship  she  will 
respond  to  our  deepest  needs.  "  Nature  salves 
our  worst  wounds,  she  heals  and  restores  us." 
Subtler  and  profounder  even  than  the  direct 
influence  of  nature,  in  tree  or  park  or  forest, 
is  the  indirect  result  of  the  ideal  nurtured  by 
devotion  to  nature's  laws.  The  return  to  na- 
ture may  be  invisible  and  eternal  as  pictured  by 
that  nature  prophet,  Edward  Carpenter.  "Is 
it  not  a  true  instinct,  therefore,  of  so  many 
individuals  in  a  time  like  the  present,  when 
they  find  their  actual  lives  nipped  and  cankered 


188    A  DECADE  OF  CIVIC  DEVELOPMENT 

oil  the  surface  by  the  conditions  in  which  they 
live,  to  hark  back,  not  only  to  simpler  and 
more  natural  surroundings,  but  also  to  those 
more  primitive  and  universal  needs  of  their 
own  hearts,  from  which  they  feel  a  new  depar- 
ture may  be  made?  They  go  back  to  the  ever 
virgin  soil  within  themselves,  and  perhaps  the 
deeper  down  they  go,  the  nearer  they  get  to  the 
universal  life." 

The  universal  life  is  the  common  life. 
Communion  with  Nature  is  a  safe  avenue  to 
communion  with  God  and  man.  Stewart 
Headlam  says  "  Holy  communion  is  only  for 
holy  communists."  As  the  citizen's  oppor- 
tunities for  fellowship  and  contact  with  nature 
multiply  he  will  learn  to  travel  the  highway  of 
the  simple  and  rational  which  leads  to  the 
common  good,  a  highway  revealed  to  this  gen- 
eration by  the  new  civic  spirit. 


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